In the first six months, Germany imported 170,000 tonnes of pellets and thus a substantially smaller volume than in the same period of last year (246,000 t). With the exception of France (6,400 t, +754%) and China (4,700 t, +2,020%), imports from all of the Top 10 suppliers decreased year on year. 20,700 tonnes (-38%) were purchased from Belgium, 18,800 tonnes (-36%) from Poland and 10,600 tonnes (-31%) from Ukraine. According to Destatis, the biggest relative decrease was recorded in imports from the Czech Republic which were down by 73%, from 21,600 tonnes in the first six months of 2023 to 5,800 tonnes in the same period of this year.
In June, there were no further deliveries from the US, which was still the main supplier until May with 38,600 tonnes. Compared to the same period of last year (58,900 t), Germany reduced its imports by 34% this year. A fairly constant quantity of 7,000 to 8,000 t of pellets is purchased from Denmark every month. From January to June, imports from Germany’s northern neighbor totaled 45,500 t, which corresponds to a 14% decrease compared to the first half of 2023 (52,900 t).
Since 2009, France has either delivered very small quantities, such as 749 tonnes last year, or quantities in the low four digits, such as 2,730 tonnes in 2020, as data in the Datacube show. Back in 2013, a record quantity of 17,700 tonnes was delivered in the first six months.
The decrease in imports from the Czech Republic (2023: 21,600 t; 2022: 21,500 t) could possibly be related to the largely completed processing of damaged wood. Since 2009, pellet deliveries usually have always totaled between 5,000 and 8,000 t in the period January to June.
China is practically a newcomer among the supplying countries. At 4,700 tonnes in the first half of the year, the quantity is still relatively small. In many years, Germany did not import any Chinese pellets at all.
As always, you can track the development of German pellet imports in the Foreign trade section of our Datacube.
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