More than one third of the global output is produced in China. From 2017 to 2018, the quantity produced in the People’s Republic grew by 21% to over 20 million tons. The number of production sites increased by more than 150 to 2,240 sites. Growth was remarkable especially in the rest of Asia, where production output rose by 54% to 3.7 million tons last year. Massive increases in Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have been mainly responsible for this strong upward trend.
In North America, growth didn’t meet expectations in 2018 because of delays in projects and bad weather conditions. Storms, forest fires and floods have led to a 5% rise in production which reached 10.9 million tons. Due to several projects, which have been announced in Canada and the US, a more marked growth is expected in the coming years.
Within the 28 member states of the EU, production increased by 10% to 16.9 million tons. In absolute numbers, it is the second highest increase in production after that of China. The EU’s the biggest producers are Germany (2.4 million t; +7.3%), Sweden (1.8 million t) and Romania (1.6 million t; +12.2%), followed by Latvia (1.6 million t; +7.6%) and France (1.5 million t; +11.1%).
In the rest of Europe, pellets production grew by 7% to 3.2 million tons. Data have been taken from Bioenergy Europe’s Statistical Report 2019.
Pellets production (in 1,000 tons) | 2017/2018
| Country | 2019 | 2018 | Change in % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Britain | 2,167,032 | 2,164,969 | 0.1 |
| Egypt | 1,155,808 | 743,097 | 55.5 |
| Norway | 824,175 | 767,329 | 7.4 |
| Netherlands | 760,844 | 820,542 | -7.3 |
| Denmark | 684,248 | 730,029 | -6.3 |
| China | 644,472 | 545,681 | 18.1 |
| Germany | 622,959 | 691,441 | -9.9 |
| Japan | 604,807 | 587,346 | 3 |
| USA | 369,305 | 312,510 | 18.2 |
| Morocco | 338,379 | 325,195 | 4.1 |
| Other countries | 2,424,403 | 2,679,313 | -9.5 |
| Total | 10,596,432 | 10,367,452 | 2.2 |
| Country | 2017 | 2018 | Diff. in % |
| China | 16,800 | 20,250 | 21 |
| EU 28 | 15,401 | 16,879 | 10 |
| North America | 10,400 | 10,900 | 5 |
| Asia without China | 2,402 | 3,697 | 54 |
| South America | 549 | 549 | 0 |
| Oceania | 250 | 205 | -18 |
| Rest of Europe | 3,006 | 3,223 | 7 |
| Total | 48,807 | 55,704 | 14 |
