From the Director’s Desk:
January 2026 EIA Data Published (February too), PFI Executes 2026 Fly-In
January 2026 (5-year average) - in tons
East
Sales – 98,566 (77,959)
Production – 85,841 (88,400)
Inventory – 27,461 (90,718)
West
Sales – 26,637 (43,647)
Production – 24,537 (35,098)
Inventory – 75,618 (36,947)
South
Sales – 18,280 (22,788)
Production – 16,473 (14,857)
Inventory – 3,110 (24,361)
All U.S.
Sales – 143,484 (136,720)
Production – 126,851 (149,215)
Inventory – 106,189 (152,027)
Last week, the Energy Information Administration published two months’ worth of data, January and February of 2026, bringing the report back into its typical publication schedule.
The data showed a continuation of the winter we’d all watch unfold in the last months of 2025, strong sales and dwindling inventories in the East, and stagnant sales, throttled back production, and swollen inventories out West.
By the time January rolled around, the talk out West was about historically low snowpack and mild temperatures. The 26,637 ton sales figure is the lowest January total in the region ever, and about 60% of the monthly average of 43,647 tons. Production in the West makes it clear that producers throttled back production, confident that the inventory they already had would carry them through the rest of the year. The 24,537 ton production figure is the second lowest for January. Only 2016’s production total was lower. Clearly, producers weren’t interested in adding to their inventory totals, and despite poor sales volume, inventory levels remained under 80,000 tons. With the heating season behind us, I expect to see production in the West stay tamped down through the summer. The high water mark in the region last summer was over 128,000 tons on the ground, and I suspect that producers out West will work to stay well underneath that total this summer.
The picture in the East is much rosier. With sales of 98,566 tons, the return to a more typical winter in the East was certainly being felt. January was the fourth month of five consecutive months (reaching back to September of 2026) that saw above-average sales numbers. The only miss was in October, which came in at 98% of the 5-year average. An interesting comparison is the September – January sales of 2025-26 set next to the same timeframe in 2024-25. This heating season, producers in the East shipped 569,154 tons against 478,688 tons from the same period the year prior. At $250/ton wholesale, that difference represents over $22 million in additional revenue this year versus last. Significant indeed.
PFI Executes 2026 Fly-in
On Wednesday, members of the Pellet Fuels Institute gathered in Washington, D.C. to perform our annual fly-in. In the next edition of the Pellet Wire, I will provide a complete recap after we’ve had an opportunity to gather notes and thoughts from the teams about their conversations and experiences speaking with policymakers.
A special thanks to the PFI members who committed their time and energy to this year’s fly-in:
- Scott Cummings, Barefoot PelletMatt Klein, Easy Heat
- Andrew Hasek, Hearth & Home Technologies
- Kenny Lisle, Lignetics
- Brett Jordan, Lignetics
- Bruce Lisle, Lignetics
- Ben Rose, Michigan Wood Fuels
- Matt O’Malley, O’Malley Wood Pellets
- Frank Kvietok, Lignetics
- Jonathan Parrott, Maine Energy Systems
For this year’s fly-in, we collaborated with both the Advanced Woody Biomass Alliance and the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association for some of our meetings. My thanks to those organizations for their support and partnership.
Our fly-in teams met with the following members of Congress. Names appearing in bold were meetings with the member themselves.
- Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)
- Senator John Boozman (R-AR)
- Senator John Husted (R-OH)
- Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA)
- Office of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Office of Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
- Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
- Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA-1)
- Senator Jim Justice (R-WV)
- Rep. John Joyce (R-PA-13)
- Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI-4)
- Senator Angus King (I-ME)
- Office of Rep. Brad Finstad (R-MN-1)
- Office of Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN-8)
- Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA-15)
- Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR-4)
- Senator Peter Welch (D-VT)
- Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
- Office of Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-OR-5)
- Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Office of Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR-1)
- Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-2)
The mission of any successful fly-in should be to educate policymakers about the industry, the economic value of the industry to their state or district, and the federal policies and regulations that impact our businesses. Our teams discussed fuel choice legislation, the New Source Performance Standards (wood heater rule), key Farm Bill provisions, and a recent vote on the definition of renewable biomass.
I look forward to debriefing with our fly-in teams and providing a full recap in the next edition of the Pellet Wire.
Finally, I would urge anyone who has not yet participated in a fly-in to consider joining us next year. Fly-ins are a crucial component of our organization’s federal advocacy efforts and the ONLY way to guarantee that policymakers hear about our business from the people who know it best, you.
