PIX Pellet Continental Europe price index over March 2012 showed a minor change moving in pellet prices in Europe

After a general rise of European energy prices during February, prices of some energy forms started to decline in March.

Oil prices continued to move upwards, however. The heating oil price rises seen in late 2011 and through January-March 2012 have been substantial. These hikes as well as the still relatively quickly widening options to use renewable energy in its various forms support both the demand and pricing of bio-fuels, including pellets, of course. The fire at one of the largest industrial pellet users, RWE’s Tilbury plant in the UK, reduces substantially the earlier anticipated increase in the use of industrial pellets and weakens the supply/demand balance by about 200 000 tons/month, according to Hawkins Wright’s Forest Energy Monitor publication.
While the weaker supply/demand balance in industrial pellets can be expected to have at least some indirect impact on the medium-sized users on the Continent as well, pellet prices held up quite well, both in industrial as well as in medium-size and domestic uses in March. The reduction of pellet inventories in February supported the suppliers’ efforts to maintain the February price levels also through March. Our PIX Pellet Continental Europe price index over March 2012 showed thus only a minor change moving, in fact, up by the most marginal one cent, or by 0.00%, to 215.65 EUR/ton, compared to the February 2012 value published in the beginning of March 2012.

Source: FOEX