Catch up with PFI in this issue of the Pellet Wire!

July 26, 2024

From the Director’s Desk: The Dog Days of Summer, Your Average July, April Data Goes "Woof"

The Dog Days of Summer

July feels like the last month on the calendar that everyone in the country has for summer break. PFI Board Chairman Kenny Lisle was in town this week on his way to parts West and we had a chance to catch up. He shared with me that his kids start school next week in Atlanta. Yikes. July stands in stark contrast to June, a busy month for conferences, board meetings, graduations, etc. I hope everyone has found time this month to get away, beat the heat, and spend quality time with family and friends.

Your Average July (5-Year Average)

East

Sales – 94,246 tons
Production – 96,393 tons
Inventory – 145,406 tons

West

Sales – 29,506 tons
Production –38,997 tons
Inventory – 75,039 tons

South

Sales – 30,341 tons
Production – 20,916 tons
Inventory – 48,897 tons

All U.S.

Sales – 154,092 tons
Production – 135,957 tons
Inventory – 269,342 tons 

July stands out in annual wood pellet data sets as the month when standing inventory reaches its peak. Production and sales records change year to year, but July has been the industry’s consistent high watermark from an inventory perspective. I have a feeling that the streak may come to an end when this year’s July data is published this fall. Why? I’ll get into the April data further down in the Pellet Wire, but pellet inventories this April more closely resembled the July levels we’ve become accustomed to. I’d be surprised if producers kept piling them up considering space restrictions, the cost of third-party warehousing, and the trend for milder winters. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see in the data a deliberate attempt to winnow the inventory down through the summer. Speaking of April data…

April Data Goes "Woof"

We all know the season we had. Mild temperatures dominated the weather stories across the country. In some markets, all-time warmest records were set. Still, with data sets that lag by two months, we get to relive them and see in black and white the impact of widespread low Heating Degree Day counts.

The U.S. sales total came in at 73,179 tons, not a record low but in the conversation. In fact, there are only five months since 2016 with lower U.S. sales totals. One of them was March of 2024. Sales in the West dipped below 10,000 tons for the first time since 2016.

April closed at the month with 359,841 tons of wood pellets on the ground, the highest since the summer of 2018. As I said…WOOF.

I’ll close with an optimistic outlook. In July 2018, wood pellet inventory stood at 373,693 tons. By March, all but 46,642 tons of that inventory was gone, an astounding depletion rate. In October of that year, producers moved over 100,000 tons of inventory. Someone poke Old Man Winter and tell him we’d like him around by the middle of college football this season at the latest.

—Tim Portz
 Executive Director

Save the Date - 2025 Annual Conference

Photo of the Week:

Anna’s Gold Shoes:  Four years ago, we launched the Pellet Fuels Institute Board/Conference VIP reception at our annual conference to honor our board and our conference’s biggest supporters. It has been a runaway success. This year, we found ourselves in downtown Charleston and the air conditioners were going full blast to keep the sticky heat at bay. Nearly 2 million tons of wood pellet production is represented in this photograph. Also, the picture makes it clear that the conference needs a “Best Shoe” award. I’m comfortable awarding the 2024 Best Shoe Award retroactively to Anna Kessler (KESCO). Great to have Team KESCO with us again and we hope Anna will return next year to defend her title.

Photo Source: Tim Portz

Send Us Your Photos! Help us build a collection of photos of our members, their pellet mills, and products! Send images to Tim Portz at [email protected].

Industry News

EIA Monthly Densified Biomass Report

As of April 2024, the monthly data collection included 76 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel. These manufacturers had a total production capacity of 13.17 million tons per year and collectively had an equivalent of 2,527 full-time employees.

View Data

Heating Degree Days Data

Heating Degree Day Data Weekly Summary
Climate Prediction Center-NCEP-NWS-NOAA
Accumulations are from July 1, 2024 to July 20, 2024

View Data

Maine Pellet Fuels Association Wins $100,000 To Support Market Development

Maine Gov. Janet Mills on July 2 announced the award of a $100,000 grant to the Maine Pellet Fuels Association. The funding will support efforts to expand domestic markets for wood pellet fuel manufactured within the state. 

Read Article

Revelyst Announces Sale of Fiber Energy Products

Revelyst, a collective of world-class maker brands that design and manufacture performance gear and precision technologies and a segment of Vista Outdoor Inc., on July 10 announced the sale of the assets of Fiber Energy Products, the company’s wood pellet manufacturer, to Lignetics, Inc.

Read Article

Alliance for Green Heat Survey Reveals High Owner Satisfaction with Pellet Stoves

The Alliance for Green Heat on June 28 released the results of a survey of pellet stove owners it launched earlier this year, reporting that the overwhelming majority respondents are very happy with the performance of their pellet stoves. 

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USDA: US Wood Pellet Exports Top 926,024 Metric Tons in May

The U.S. exported 926,024.1 metric tons of wood pellets in May, up from 819,341.5 metric tons exported the previous month and 820,057.5 metric tons exported in May 2023, according to data released by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service on July 3. 

Read Article

Fuel Availability

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Have News to Share in the Pellet Wire?

We would love to feature your company's news in a future Pellet Wire! Let us be the first to know about your company's recent developments, and we will share them with the broader pellet fuels industry.

Please consider the Pellet Wire for staff announcements, new hires, promotions, and retirements. 

Please get in touch with Tim Portz via email at [email protected] with information on your company's growth, job openings, or other news.



Pellet Fuels Institute 

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(206) 209-5277
www.pelletheat.org