FIBRE DEMAND UP
The rising cost of locally sourced biomass in Europe is resulting in an increased interest from the continent’s energy plants in the importation of wood chips and pellets from neighboring countries and overseas, says Seattle, Wash.-based Wood Resources International LLC (WRI) in its North American Wood Fiber Review. But the European demand could also be pushing biomass costs up in parts of North America.
“The U.S. South is on the top of the list as a long-term biomass supply source for a number of energy companies,” says WRI in a news brief. “This is because the region has a stable supply of pulpwood, a well functioning infrastructure, and competitive wood fibre costs as compared to most other markets in the world.”
The brief says only Chile and the Western U.S. had lower softwood pulpwood prices than the U.S. South during 1Q/2010. That could be changing in some pockets though, including the tri-state area of Southern Georgia, Southeast Alabama, and northern Florida, adds WRI. They say a “significant number” of new wood-to-energy facilities have been announced for the region and one major pellet plant in northern Florida, Green Circle Bioenergy, began operating in 2008. Its entire production is currently exported to Europe and another two “export-oriented” pellet plants are on the drawing board in southern Georgia.
This Southeastern sub-region may see higher wood fibre costs when compared to other parts of the U.S. South as it is situated “within a stronghold” of the traditional southern pulp industry, which has seven pulp mills within the sub region. “The high concentration of wood fibre consumers within a fairly limited area has pushed wood costs higher the past few years,” notes WRI. “With the expected increase in wood consumption by the energy sector in the sub-region it is likely that pulpwood costs will continue to be higher in this sub-region that the average for the U.S. South.”
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