U.S. manufacturers produced approximately 900,000 tons of densified biomass fuels in May, according to the August edition of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Densified Biomass Fuels Report. Sales of densified biomass reached 840,000 tons during the month.

The EIA collected data from 77 operating manufacturers of densified biomass fuel to complete the report. The report does not include data on facilities with annual production capacities of less than 10,000 tons, which report data annually rather than monthly.

The 77 manufacturers surveyed for May had a total combined production capacity of 12.62 million tons per year and collectively had the equivalent of 2,479 full-time employees.

Respondents purchased 890,000 tons of raw biomass feedstock in May, produced 900,000 tons of densified biomass fuel and sold 840,000 tons of densified biomass fuel. Production included 153,218 tons of heating pellets and 752,729 tons of utility pellets.

Domestic sales of densified biomass fuel in May reached 150,098 tons at an average price of $229.76 per ton. Exports in May reached 697,399 tons at an average price of $192.57 per ton.

Inventories of premium/standard pellets reached 202,479 tons in May, up slightly from 201,487 tons in April. Inventories of utility pellets fell to 482,051 tons in May, down from 520,747 tons in April.

Data gathered by the EIA shows that total U.S. densified biomass fuel capacity reached 12.81 million tons in May, with 12.71 million tons of that capacity listed as currently operating or temporarily not in operation. Capacity included 1.83 million tons in the East, 10.25 million tons in the South, and 632,450 tons in the West.

The EIA cautioned that some totals reported in its August densified biomass fuel report may be relatively smaller because the agency withheld some values to avoid disclosure of individual company data.