Wood energy markets, 2010-2011

Abstract

Global wood energy markets continue to grow, driven primarily by demand in the EU and its commitment to meet 20% of energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. Large investments in industrial pellet-production capacity have been made under expectations of a continuously growing demand, mainly from the EU. Concern about how energy and climate-change policies may be affecting wood market dynamics and existing wood-using industries, has to led to calls in Europe for a detailed evaluation. Canada and the US remain the major suppliers of woody biomass feedstock, primarily pellets, to the EU. Canadian exports of industrial pellets are expected to grow in 2011. A joint effort between APX-ENDEX and the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands has created a wood energy commodity contract exchange market, to be launched in the second half of 2011. Prices for industrial pellets in the EU declined in the third quarter of 2010, but have maintained an upward trend through mid-2011. The Russian pellet market is developing rapidly as new corporations and partnerships support a trend towards increasing unit size of production per plant: the world’s largest pellet-producing facilities are being built currently in the Russian Federation. Several Russian regional governments are successfully stimulating the use of wood energy for municipal heating. New rules for the US Federal Biomass Crop Assistance Program have been issued, with a tier system of match payments that reflects emphasis on cellulosic liquid biofuels. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will revisit and thoroughly assess greenhouse gas emissions from biomass and energy generating technologies and rule whether they will require CO₂ emission permits after the current three-year moratorium ends in 2013. The expansion of wood energy to date has been largely policy-driven and there is a degree of anxiety over what might happen, if there were to be any major shift in public policy and the financial incentives that have supported it. Revisions of the CO₂ neutrality of wood energy could severely affect markets in the EU and North America.

Citation

Aguilar, Francisco; Gaston, Christopher; Hartkamp, Rens; Mabee, Warren; Skog, Kenneth. 2011. Wood energy markets, 2010-2011. In: Forest products annual market review, 2010-2011: Chapter 9. Geneva timber and forest study papers ; 27. Geneva, Switzerland : United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2011: p. 85-97: ISBN: 9789211170504: 9211170508.