From the Director’s Desk: We're BACK! EIA Publishes April Data, Farmer's Almanac Predicts Winter Wonderland
We're BACK! EIA Publishes April Data
April Data (5-year average) in tons
After more than a month since the last update to the Monthly Densified Biomass Fuel Report, the Energy Information Administration posted data for April 2025 on Wednesday morning. Here’s what we learned:
East
Sales – 45,130 (59,885)
Production – 70,974 (81,972)
Inventory – 159,000 (156,595)
West
Sales – 7,966 (17,630)
Production – 29,741 (34,125)
Inventory – 118,398 (56,628)
South
Sales – 6,507 (17,945)
Production – 16,105 (14,941)
Inventory – 19,618 (39,406)
All U.S.
Sales – 59,603 (95,251)
Production – 116,550 (131,039)
Inventory – 297,016 (252,618)
The standout data points within the April data have to be the U.S. total sales number and the inventory position in the West. At 59,603 tons, total sales in the U.S. is a new low for the month of April. That said, one month doesn’t tell the whole story and a quick look back at 2024 reveals that March and April last year (132,533 tons) more or less matches the same time frame in 2025 (138,309 tons). Remember also that the data reveals that the New Year’s cold snap that predominated pellet land brought pellet consumers out in droves in January and apparently, consumers bought what they needed to finish out the year. Total sales for the United States January through April this year was 429,240 tons, about 60,000 tons higher (16%) than the same time period in 2024 and as good as any first four months since 2021. In 2021, winter persisted through April and producers sold over 600,000 tons in the first four months.
The other eye-catching data point from April is the West’s inventory position of 118,398 tons, an all time high. It seems the predictable inventory cycle for the West got scrambled last year when inventories climbed 60,00 tons in the first four months of the year. On average, the West saw summertime highs top out in the 75,000-80,000 ton range. Last year, producers had 70,000 tons on the ground at the end of March. This position kept production below average for the remainder of the year and the first 4 months of 2025 as well. We will have to keep an eye on production from the region in the next handful of reports to see if producers rolled out of the throttle even more through the summer months.
Seeing this data after a bit of a pause is a reminder of its utility. Happy to have it back up and running.
Farmer's Almanac Predicts Winter Wonderland
Chill. Snow. Repeat. That’s the sub-headline in a the Farmers' Almanac recent post about their prediction (see Industry News) for the winter of 2025-26, music to wood pellet manufacturers’ and skiers’ ears. I think predicting a winter is akin to predicting the outcome of the college football season; compelling and interesting but as likely to be off the mark as on. The article features a map of the U.S. and the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions are both predicted to be “Very Cold, Snowy” while the Northeast is expected to be “Cold, Snow-Filled.” Another bold prediction caught my eye, particularly when considering that last winter took a long time to get started, that of an early chill in the Northeast as early as September. The next edition of the Pellet Wire comes out…in September. While members of the PFI would cheer that, I feel like that prediction is akin to predicting that Mark Gronowski, Iowa’s QB for the year, is an early dark horse for the Heisman Trophy. It puts a smile on my face, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
—Tim Portz
Executive Director
