Wood chips for energy market report 

The global trade of wood chips exceeds 36M BDMT per year. Over 90% of this trade serves the pulp and panelboard industries, particularly in Japan and China. However there is also a growing demand for energy chips in both Europe and Asia.

Historically the use of wood chips for energy generation has been concentrated at a local scale. However growing demand is forcing energy buyers to look further afield for their wood chips. Current consumption of seaborne chips for energy in Asia is in excess of 1M BDMT, while a similar volume of energy chips are also imported to Europe from outside of the continent.

The report covers: 

• Market structures and the current trade of wood chips for energy, pulp and panelboard. Wood chip specifications and how they vary by end-use sector. Legality and sustainability requirements in different geographic markets.
• Seaborne energy chip demand in Europe and Asia. Country profiles of key markets for wood chips for energy. Illustrating current and planned power/CHP/district heating plants >20MW using wood chips and their indictive fuel sourcing strategy (local v imported). The outlook for imported/seaborne wood chip demand in Europe and Asia, and how this compares in scale to the expected rise in demand for local chips.
• Wood chip supply regions. Profiles of key wood chip supply regions in North & South America, Asia, Oceania and Europe. Insights regarding forestry resources, logistics, economics, regulatory issues and current wood chip supply volumes. Names of major wood chip producers in each country and indicative production volumes.
• Economics and competitiveness. Indicative wood chip prices and how they differ between the energy and pulp/paper sectors. Biomass paying capability analysis, how much can energy buyers afford to pay for wood chips? Insights regarding the competition between energy and pulp/paper sectors, who can pay more?