Renewable Energy

On the back burner? Wood for bioenergy, US vs Canada

After a boom last year, Canada’s wood pellet exports are slowing down. What about the US? We analyze the country’s main customers in an interactive chart.

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Canadian wood pellet sales used to be consistent year-on-year, hovering above 1.5m tons. Yet in 2016, exports soared by 46 percent. Too much in one go? Exports are down 13 percent in 2017 through August, according to Forisk – still a great score (1.4 million tons) but indicative that growth may end up being more gradual than 2016 alone would suggest.

The same trend does not apply to the US, a much bigger exporter. The US is on track to export 4.9 million tons in 2017, amounting to a 3 percent increase over 2016 volumes. The lion’s share of sales still goes to the UK, which enjoys a solid 82 percent market share – though this year the nation has so far imported less. Instead, growth came from Belgium, the US’s second-largest customer of pellets, thanks to a 75 percent increase year-on-year. The full ranking is below.