Japan's palm kernel shells (PKS) imports rose on the year and on the month to a record high in March, according to data published by the country's finance ministry today.
Japan imported 685,000t of wood pellets in March, up by 29pc each from a year earlier and from February. Vietnam remained the largest supplier at 491,000t, almost doubling on the year and up by 62pc on the month. The second-largest supplier was Canada.
Japan's PKS imports were 670,000t in March, up by 21pc from the same month of 2024, and up by 15pc from the previous month, which marked the largest amount on record. The top supplier was Indonesia. Malaysia followed at 188,000t, also hitting a record high.
Several biomass-fired power plants have come on line in Japan in recent months, including the 46MW Imari power plant on 19 April, which started test runs in February, burning imported PKS.
There will also be a number of new plants starting commercial operations in the coming months, such as the 53MW Fukuyama in May and the 75MW Sakaide Hayashida in June, although the 50MW Karatsu postponed its start-up from March to September this year.
| Japan's biomass imports by key supplying countries | 000t | ||||
| Wood Pellet | Mar 2025 | Feb 2025 | Mar 2024 | m-o-m ± % | y-o-y ± % |
| Canada | 106.6 | 121.1 | 100.3 | -12.0 | 6.3 |
| Thailand | 10.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | - | - |
| Indonesia | 41.3 | 37.8 | 59.4 | 9.2 | -30.4 |
| Vietnam | 490.6 | 302.5 | 247.1 | 62.2 | 98.6 |
| Malaysia | 36.5 | 64.1 | 22.3 | -43.1 | 64.1 |
| US | 0.0 | 0.0 | 102.5 | - | -100.0 |
| China | 0.2 | 4.0 | 0.1 | -96.2 | 70.0 |
| Total | 685.2 | 529.8 | 531.5 | 29.3 | 28.9 |
| PKS | Mar-25 | Feb-25 | Mar-24 | m-o-m ± % | y-o-y ± % |
| Indonesia | 477.7 | 430.8 | 437.3 | 10.9 | 9.3 |
| Malaysia | 187.5 | 146.2 | 113.1 | 28.3 | 65.8 |
| Sri Lanka | 3.9 | 3.1 | 4.4 | 26.1 | -11.1 |
| Others | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 51.8 | 28.5 |
| Total | 670.4 | 581.1 | 556.1 | 15.4 | 20.5 |
| Source: Finance ministry | |||||
