The manufacture and consumption of pellets in Spain increased during 2022

Estimates for the year that ends continue along the same lines: the plants could produce close to 800,000 tons, while consumers would have purchased close to 900,000 tons in 2023.

AVEBIOM on the wood pellet market for 2022 and 2023 is now available 'Statistical report on production and consumption of pellets in Spain' . In this report you can find production and consumption data for wood pellets both nationally and by autonomous community. It also includes statistics on the evolution of the ENplus certification system in Spain .

Since 2022, national manufacturers have made a great effort by increasing production and prioritizing their service to Spanish customers. The result of these is that the production and consumption curves tend to approach each other . The difference is made up by imports from Portugal.

It has become clear that pellet manufacturing in Spain is increasingly concentrated in large capacity plants while smaller facilities that are not connected to wood-related activities tend to disappear: between 2021 and 2022 we have gone from 75 to 67 factories. 36 of them have a valid ENplus certificate and are responsible for 90% of the certified production in Spain.

Consumers trust pellets despite the crisis
The increase in inflation and high pellet prices, common throughout Europe, slowed down the pace of installation of pellet equipment in Spain by 13% in the second half of 2022 compared to to the previous year, when sales records for new equipment in the domestic sector were broken.

But, according to the latest survey on pellet consumption in the EU carried out by Bioenergy Europe (carried out at the end of November and forthcoming), the majority of European and Spanish users confirm that they will continue using pellets despite the fact that in the last season they were worried about rising prices.

In any case, heating with gas in 2022 was 44% more expensive than heating with pellets , and heating with electric radiators, for example, cost three times as much as heating with pellets.

Since 2012, the association has analyzed pellet prices both in the factory (monthly) and at points of sale (quarterly). Since April 2023, prices have remained stable at values ​​similar to those of summer 2022 (€275/ton) and, although it does not seem likely that in the coming months we will return to pre-crisis prices, the reduction in exports to countries such as Italy and a start to the season that is not very cold can lead to a temporary excess of stock that could bring offers in prices at the beginning of the year.

The change from VAT to pellets
The 5% VAT on energy supplies ends on December 31 and becomes 10% during the first half of 2024 for pellets and other solid biofuels, before returning to 21%. Without a doubt, this circumstance will encourage consumers to stock up on pellets before the grace period ends.

In the next six months, AVEBIOM will do everything possible to convince the government of the opportunity that maintaining advantageous taxation for biomass over fossil fuels represents for our country's energy transition.