33% of all Wooden Pallets are now exported to Asia<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
As reported in Friday Offcuts<\/a>, Asia, represented by Japan and South Korea, has continued to grow import volumes at the expense of European buyers and, in the last quarter of 2022, accounted for\u00a0one-third of the world’s import volume, up from only 18% five years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Demand for biomass, including wood pellets, has increased remarkably quickly in Japan, from 1.0 million tons in 2018 to 4.4 million tons in 2022. The upward trend is expected to continue, and Japan will be the fastest-growing market in the world in the next 5-10 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Vietnam is currently the primary pallet supplier to Japan, followed by Canada and the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With Japanese power companies writing long-term offtake agreements with larger suppliers in North America, the most considerable pallet supply expansion in the coming years will likely be in the US and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report, provided by Wood Resources International, advised that the trade of wood pellets remained unchanged year-on-year, with about 29 million tons in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This year was the first time shipments failed to rise year-on-year since 2017 when wood pellets became a globally traded commodity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This data contradicts earlier research where the global pallet market (approximately 5 billion) was expected to grow by 40% over the next 5 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pellet producers in the USA have historically shipped all their production to European power companies, and as late as 2021, there were no exports from the US to Asia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, in 2022 Asian demand picked up, and in the 1Q\/23, 10% of the total volume from the Southern states was shipped to Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This recent and sudden change in trade flow will likely continue to expand, with increasing long-term sales to Japanese power companies and a declining share of European shipments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The data comes as emerging research from the USA shows that pallets, like most forest products, can go beyond net-zero carbon emissions and achieve \u2018climate positive\u2019 outcomes<\/a> \u2013 creating an environmental benefit by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Net-zero is a popular benchmark for ESG reporting<\/a>, with several countries including the benchmark n their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC\u2019s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In September 2022<\/a>, US consultancy McKinsey reported that a \u2018materials transition\u2019 towards low-carbon \u2018circular\u2019 materials is instrumental in achieving the net-zero agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe global market for wooden pallets did not grow in 2022<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNew research shows that Wooden Pallets are ‘climate positive’<\/h6>\n\n\n\n