| Catch up with PFI in this issue of the Pellet Wire! |
From the Director’s Desk: Your Average February, PFI Annual Conference Registration Open
Your Average February
East
Sales – 79,924
Production – 95,227
Inventory – 74,482
West
Sales – 38,879
Production – 36,449
Inventory – 28,066
South
Sales – 27,373
Production – 25,143
Inventory – 27,954
All U.S.
Sales – 113,430
Production – 147,189
Inventory – 157,693
Historically, February is a bit of a dud for wood pellet sales. Stranded toward the end of the heating season, consumers prefer to see how their own personal supply of pellets will hold up rather than laying in a big supply. When sorted by average monthly sales, February sits near the bottom with April (95,251 tons) and March (90,182 tons). The records do show instances of strong sales in the month, but the best February ever (2019) still falls well short of the 200,000-ton mark (169,714 tons).
This February feels more like a February that exceeds the average and maybe even flirts with that high-water mark. Last week, a polar vortex kept temperatures very low across the Upper Midwest (subzero in Minneapolis), and a snowstorm buffeted the East. Heating Degree Days have been trending in a positive direction for heating fuel manufacturers since the middle of January, and consumers can be expected to see their dwindling supply of pellets in a different way than they did over the last few years. I suspect, too, that stronger sales and demand in January and February will have producers maximizing production, and "in-season" production will be strong for both months.
I think it is difficult to imagine a situation in which February 2025 pellet production and sales data aren’t well ahead of averages and certainly well ahead of the last two to three years. While February data won’t be available to the industry until May, the accumulating HDD data certainly points to stronger sales activity. The question now becomes: How long will this cold weather last, and does it have the potential to carry into March, boosting sales activity there too?
One last observation about February data: For the last two years, producers have actually built inventory in February. In both 2023 and 2024, total U.S. inventory increased by about 50,000 tons. Interestingly, inventory increased in February each year since 2016, except for 2019. I think there is a good chance that February 2025 will join 2019 as a February that saw inventory shrink. Someone write that down.
PFI Annual Conference Registration Open | June 17-19
Registration for the 2025 Pellet Fuels Institute is now officially open. Scheduled for June 17-19, this year’s conference takes us to the famous Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. We are excited about our program and invite you to join our membership at the Greenbrier this June. Watch the Pellet Wire for more program announcements. Mark your calendars.
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—Tim Portz
Executive Director
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Old Man Winter is Having a Moment: With the industry cheering a return to cold temperatures since around the Christmas holiday, the question everyone has been asking is how long it will all last. This latest 8–14-day temperature outlook suggests that for the Upper Midwest and the East at least, colder than normal temps are expected to persist through the end of the month. This kind of persistent cold is just the kind of weather crucial to moving pellet inventory from producers all the way through the supply chain to the end user.
Source: Climate Prediction Center
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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].
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EIA Monthly Densified Biomass Report
As of November 2024, the monthly data collection included 77 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel. These manufacturers had a total production capacity of 13.34 million tons per year and collectively had an equivalent of 2,438 full-time employees.
View Data
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Heating Degree Day Data
Heating Degree Day Data Weekly Summary
Climate Prediction Center-NCEP-NWS-NOAA
Accumulations are from July 1, 2024 to February 15, 2025
View Data
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Maine Heating Energy Price Index
The Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) conducts a weekly survey of heating fuel prices, obtained from fuel retailers statewide. This survey provides the current Maine cash prices, in dollars, rounded to the nearest penny. Prices are typically updated by Friday each week.
Read Article
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Why Are Energy Bills in RI So High This Winter? Here's What We Found.
If you’ve talked to, well, just about anyone lately, you’ve probably heard complaints about the high energy bills this winter.
Rates are nearly as high as they’ve ever been, and the weather’s been unusually cold, at least when measured against the string of mild winters we’ve had in recent years, so it only makes sense that people are paying more for their utilities.
Read Article
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Are you a PFI member, pellet manufacturer, or distributor that has fuel available? Email the PFI Office to have your listing updated or added to the PFI website.
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Not a member yet? Learn more about how PFI can work for you and join today!
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Follow PFI on X, and Link with us on LinkedIn!
We’d like to connect and interact with PFI members and anyone else involved in pellet fuels production!
Here’s how you can help us build our online community:
- Follow us on X and LinkedIn!
- Encourage your colleagues and other business associates to follow us.
- Email Tim Portz at [email protected] news or other ideas to post on PFI’s social media.
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Join a PFI Committee
We welcome and encourage all interested PFI members to get involved in our committees. There are many opportunities to help steer the association. No matter where your expertise and interests lie, we have a committee that will suit you. Help us plan our next conference, shape our policy agenda, lead communications outreach, or grow the PFI Standards Program.
Visit PFI's Committee Page for more information.
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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.
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