Inside this issue

Deep in the heart of the Great Recession, the editors at Hatton-Brown saw an opportunity. 2008 and 2009 were tough for the forest products business, but woody biomass production, specifically industrial wood pellets for export, was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. So, in a gamble that has (so far) paid off, Hatton-Brown’s magazine portfolio expanded by one, and Wood Bioenergy was born.

A hard sell for sales rep Susan Windham at first—what exactly was the magazine going to cover each quarter? —has now morphed into a healthy six issues annually. And this, the first of 2025, is a record-breaker, with the most display advertising sold since Wood Bio’s inception. Also notable is the sheer volume of project announcements covering the pages of this issue’s “In The News.” These project announcements cover everything from pellet plant proposals to sustainable aviation fuel production. But one thing remains constant, the utilization of woody biomass; the thing Wood Bio magazine has always championed.

Utilization that, like the magazine’s page count, continues to increase. According to the monthly report issued by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the U.S. exported 873,783.9 metric tons of wood pellets in November 2024, up from 839,226.4 metric tons the previous month and 655,590.3 metric tons in November 2023. (The December 2024 data will be available in early February, after this issue goes to press.)

Those U.S.-made pellets were exported to more than a dozen countries, with the United Kingdom (vis-a-vis Drax) as their top destination, accounting for 699,181 metric tons exported. In line with forecasts and trends described by Forisk, Dr. Bill Strauss/FutureMetrics, AFRY and others, Japan was the second largest consumer of exported wood pellets, taking 124,883.4 metric tons; followed by Denmark in third at 33,524.3 metric tons.

Crushing previous amounts, the value of U.S.-made wood pellet exports reached $162.25 million in November 2024, up from October 2024’s $154.72 million value, and smashing the previous November’s value of just $116.73 million.

In total for the first 11 months of 2024, the value of U.S.-made wood pellet 9.12 million metric tons of exports was $1.7 billion, compared to the entire year of 2023, where the value was $1.58 billion for 8.56 million metric tons.

Yea, we might just be journalists, but even we can see that gamble in 2008 was a good bet, and a commitment to woody biomass and industrial wood pellet production remains a smart play.

Crad Jaynes, President & CEO of the South Carolina Timber Producers Assn., called the decision “heartbreaking.” And the significance of the move can hardly be understated. While the mill hasn’t run at full capacity in a while, he said, the thousands of loads still delivered there every month play a huge part in the regional timber economy.

“This changes the profile of the timber industry in this state,” Jaynes says, noting that he’s hearing of loggers that worked with the facility parking multiple crews immediately. It also comes on the heels of the WestRock plant closure in North Charleston.

Jaynes adds that with so much wood looking for a home, remaining markets are reducing cut-and-haul rates. “It’s a ripple effect that’s devastating for the whole supply chain in that area,” he adds.

But what if this nightmare can be pivoted into a dream situation for the right investor in a biochar plant, or even a utility willing to convert to co-firing pellets as Dominion Power has done in Virginia since 2013, or a sawmill adding co-generation to their site? Once again, the area’s growth-to-drain ratio is out of whack. Meanwhile there are a whole lot of highly skilled workers and motivated city-county-state governments looking to bring industry back to the area.