N American wood pellet exports at record high in 2021

North American wood pellet exports hit a record high in 2021, boosted by demand from Asia and the Netherlands.

Combined US and Canadian wood pellets exports firmed to 10.7mn t from 10.1mn in the previous year. And North American exports rose by 100,000t on the year to 2.7mn t in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Overall exports from each country also increased on the year in 2021, with US exports rising by 266,000t to 7.52mn t and Canadian shipments by 297,000 to 3.14mn t.

Canadian exports to Asia — primarily to Japan and South Korea — rose significantly in 2021 from a year earlier, largely driven by long-term contracts kicking in last year. Canadian shipments to Japan jumped by 479,000t on the year to 1.1mn t, broadly in line with stronger pellet consumption in Japan. And Canadian exports to South Korea also rose significantly in 2021, reaching 254,000t from 49,000t a year earlier.

Overall Canadian deliveries to northwestern Europe dropped, with the Netherlands and the UK seeing the largest yearly decline. Shipments to the Netherlands fell by just under 220,000t to 180,000t, as the country significantly increased its intake from the US. And exports to the UK fell by 146,000t to 1.3mn t, although the country maintained the largest share in the Canadian export market. The drop was despite UK utilities burning more pellets for power last year and was partly offset by quicker UK imports from Russia, the Baltics and Portugal.

Canadian deliveries to Denmark and Belgium also dropped, while only shipments to France saw a 32,000t increase to 53,000t. Disruptions at the port of Vancouver following severe flooding in British Columbia in mid-November also partly resulted in lower deliveries to Europe. Overall Canadian exports more than halved on the year to 164,000t in December.

By contrast, US deliveries rose significantly for some northwest European destinations, while deliveries to Asia were near zero.

US shipments to the Netherlands jumped by 537,000t on the year to 1.17mn t in 2021. This was mostly because of stronger Dutch pellet burn for power as record-high power prices incentivised generation throughout Europe, and while biomass held a price competitiveness against alternative fuels. Higher availability in 2021 at co-fired units — some of which had been off line for extended periods in 2020 for maintenance — as well as an increase in biomass' share at a major plant, also supported generation.

Generation rose significantly on the year at RWE's co-fired Dutch plants in January-September — the latest period for which data is available. And the allowance for biomass burn at German utility RWE's 1.5GW Eemshaven plant co-fired with coal doubled to 450MW from November 2021, which may have allowed for stronger generation in the fourth quarter of 2021. Biomass burn at German utility Uniper's 1.1GW Maasvlakte power plant also jumped to 800GWh in January-September, from zero a year earlier.

Elsewhere, US exports to Denmark more than doubled on the year in 2021 to 446,000t, and deliveries to France jumped to 131,000t from 23,000t in 2020.

By contrast, US deliveries to the UK dropped by 222,000t to 5.4mn t, although the UK maintained the lion's share in the US export market. Stronger UK receipts from closer producing regions and a four-month planned outage at Drax's 645MW base-load unit 1, as well as higher freight costs, may have all had an impact on US deliveries to the UK last year.

US exports to Belgium also fell significantly to 221,000t from 568,000t. Biomass-fired generation in Belgium fell to 215MW in 2021 from 252MW a year earlier, largely due to the decommissioning of French utility Engie's 80MW Les Awirs power plant.

Despite the delays, wood pellet throughput at the port of Vancouver grew on the year to 1mn t from 855,000, due to higher shipments in the second and third quarters of 2021. And exports from Prince Rupert, Canada's biggest exporter of wood pellets, fell slightly on the year to 1.42mn t from 1.47mn t.

Wood pellet exports increased at four of the US' nine largest ports in 2021, as shipments from New Orleans fell to zero after beginning to decline a year earlier. Norfolk exported 1.51mn t, the highest of all US ports, followed by Savannah with 1.27mn.

By John Cooper

North American wood pellet exports '000,000 t