Industrial wood pellet prices flat in Europe

As a result of global wood pellet supply significantly exceeding demand during the last two to three years, industrial wood pellet prices in Europe have been flat to decreasing slightly on a euro basis. Prices increased from €115/tonne in July 2007 to €140/tonne at the beginning of 2009. Since then, they have declined to a low of €125/tonne at the end of 2010, and have increased slightly to €133/tonne at the end of 2011.

Large pellet exporters to Europe (e.g., Canada, the U.S., the Baltics and Russia) tend to sell to the industrial market, while many European producers must sell to the higher-priced domestic wholesale market (+25%-30%), and the even higher-priced domestic “bagged” DIY/retail market (+50%-55%).

A very important factor in the global production/consumption equation is the fact that the European market consumes about 85% of the world’s pellet production. This means that most large producers in non-European countries rely heavily on the European industrial pellet market.