Domestic production of wood pellets decreased in 2023
In 2023, a total of 354,000 tonnes of wood pellets was produced in Finland. Imports of wood pellets decreased from the previous year, and the export volume was the smallest in the history of the statistics. The data are based on recent statistics on annual pellet production published by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and preliminary data of Customs Finland.
Domestic pellet production decreased by two per cent to 354,000 tonnes.
“Despite investments, domestic pellet production did not increase. Lower production volumes in the forest industry reduced the supply of sawdust, cutter chips and other debarked by-products and residues used in wood pellet production,” says Markus Toikka, Senior Statistician at Luke.
According to the data of Finnish Customs, pellet imports into Finland totalled 138,000 tonnes, showing a decrease of 26 per cent from the previous year. Exports of wood pellets came to an almost complete stop, dropping by 97 per cent year-on-year to only 500 tonnes. The export volume recorded in 2023 was the smallest in the history of the statistics.
Imports from Russia replaced by the Baltic countries and Denmark
In 2023, no wood pellets were imported from Russia into Finland. Previously, Russian pellets accounted for a significant part of domestic consumption. Still in 2019–2021, Russia covered three quarters of Finland’s total wood pellet imports.
According to the preliminary data of Finnish Customs, the three largest wood pellet import countries in 2023 were Estonia, Lithuania and Denmark. In total, 70,000 tonnes of pellets were imported from Estonia, 32,000 tonnes from Lithuania, and 25,000 tonnes from Denmark.
“These three countries accounted for 92 per cent of the total import volume of pellets in 2023, and each of them increased their volumes from the previous year. However, pellets imported from the Baltic region and Denmark could not completely replace the volume imported from Russia,” Toikka says.
Domestic pellets are mainly consumed at heating and power plants
Domestic pellet producers delivered 306,000 tonnes of pellets to their customers in 2023, down by a fifth from the previous year. The volume of pellets delivered to heating and power plants was 262,000 tonnes. In addition, 44,000 tonnes were delivered to households and agriculture.
Pellets still play only a minor role in energy generation in Finland, and they only account for a few per cent of the total domestic wood energy consumption.
Production and consumption of wood pellets in Europe
According to Bioenergy Europe statistics, a total of 24.7 million tonnes of wood pellets was produced in Europe in 2022. The production of wood pellets has grown steadily in Europe throughout the 2000s. Germany is the largest producer of wood pellets in Europe, and in 2022, its production volume was 3.6 million tonnes.
In 2022, the consumption of wood pellets in Europe totalled 33.4 million tonnes, down by 2.1 million tonnes from the previous year. At 7.8 million tonnes, the United Kingdom was the largest consumer of wood pellets in Europe. In the EU, the largest consumer was Germany at 3.2 million tonnes.
Information about the statistics
Information about wood pellet production and deliveries is collected directly from pellet producers. Information about imports and exports is obtained from the international trade statistics of Finnish Customs.
