SEATTLE, June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the past
few years, South Korea has become
the largest pellet importer in Asia, ahead of Japan, and the third largest in the world, and
South Korean demand is expected to continue to increase in the
coming years, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. Vietnam has been the major supplier of pellets
to Asia, accounting for about 65%
of the total import volume in late 2016 and early
2017.
Wood pellet imports to Asia
reached an all-time-high in the 4Q/16 when Japan and South
Korea together imported 630,000 tons of pellets. Although
import volumes were down slightly in the 1Q/17, they were still
over 40% higher than in the 1Q/16, as reported in the latest issue
of the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ).
South Korea is by far the main
destination for pellets in Asia,
and in 2016, the country was the world's third largest importer of
pellets, trailing only the United
Kingdom and Denmark.
Although import volumes to Japan
have tripled from 2014 to 2016, the usage of pellets is still at a
relatively low level (see WRQ for detailed trade data).
Consumption of pellets in Japan
and South Korea has increased
quite rapidly the past four years because of new government
requirements which favor reducing carbon emissions and increasing
the usage of renewable energy. The recent trend in pellet usage is
likely to continue in the future and is driven both by incentives
(subsidies) and regulations (renewable energy portfolio standards).
With an urgent need to replace nuclear energy and generous
feed-in-tariffs, it is expected that Japan will increase importation of wood
pellets quite substantially over the next five years.
Vietnam has been the major
supplier of pellets to the Asian market for the past three years,
accounting for almost two-thirds of the shipments to Japan and South
Korea in 2016. Canada was
an early supplier to the Asian market, but its market share dropped
from 22% in 2014 to 14% in 2016. However, in the 1Q/17,
Canada increased shipments to
Asia to the second the highest
quarterly level on record and the market share was up to 21%.
Import prices for pellets to South
Korea fell dramatically from early 2014 to the summer of
2016, according to a recent WRQ Trade Snapshot report. The two-year
long price decline ended in the 3Q/16, when prices slowly started
to recover. The import prices continued their upward trend during
the first four months of 2017 with Malaysian pellets increasing the
most.
Global lumber, sawlog and pulpwood market reporting is
included in the 52-page quarterly publication Wood Resource
Quarterly (WRQ). The report, which was established in 1988 and has
subscribers in over 30 countries, tracks sawlog, pulpwood, wood
chip, lumber and pellet prices, trade and market developments in
most key regions around the world. To subscribe to the WRQ,
please go to www.woodprices.com
CONTACT:
Wood Resources International LLC
Hakan Ekstrom
info@woodprices.com
www.woodprices.com
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