• • • • pellets, which they associate with pel-lets imported from Austria. Although Italian traders purchase wood pellets in bulk and in bags, they prefer bagged product because logis-tics are easier and because bulk pellets result in significant quantities of fine dust that must be disposed of. There are around 3.1 million installed wood pellet stoves in Italy and 12,000 boilers, a ratio of nearly 200:1. Pellets are predominantly sold in 15-kilogram bags while bulk pellet sales are practi-cally non-existent. Even many boilers used bagged wood pellets. Pellet stove sales are growing at a rate of 5-10 per cent annually. The average pellet stove uses less than one tonne of wood pel-lets each year, compared to about four tonnes per year in Canada. The Italian government has intro-duced a program that enables taxpay-ers to recover 65 per cent of the cost of a pellet stove installation through their income tax returns. Inbound logistics: (1) bagged pellets are received by truck from Austria, Germa-ny, France, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland; (2) bagged pellets are received by train from Romania, Belarus, Ukraine, Netherlands, and Lithuania; (3) bagged pellets are received in shipping containers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithua-nia, Tunisia, U.S., and Canada; and (4) bulk pellets are received in ocean vessels from Portugal, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, U.S. and Canada. • Ballpark per tonne wholesale pric-ing, ex works (transportation paid by buyer): (1) bagged pellets received by truck is 133 euros; (2) bagged pel-lets received by train is 144 euros; (3) bagged pellets received by container is 121 euros; and (4) bulk pellets re-ceived by ocean vessel is 91 euros. • Canadian wood pellets are regarded to be of the highest quality, but expensive. Consequently many unscrupulous Ital-ian distributors are branding pellets as “Canadian,” even if the pellets are im-ported from elsewhere. Our only pro-tection is to use the CANplus pellet cer-tification brand in addition to ENplus. No pellet producer outside Canada is allowed to use the CANplus trademark. • Air pollution from wood burning has become a political issue in Italy. The natural gas lobby has campaigned against wood pellets, saying the emissions from pellet stoves are the same as from the many old inefficient wood stoves that are still in service in Italy. Fortunately, Italy has passed a new “National Law for the Quality Classification of Biomass Heating Systems” which rates stoves on the basis of emissions performance for particulates, organic gases, nitrous oxides, and carbon monoxide. Pellet stoves have been found to be highly rated under the new law. Italy remains the best option for those wishing to export residential quality pel-lets to Europe. Winter temperatures have returned to normal after three consecu-tive warmer than normal years. Pellet demand in other European countries has depressed their exports to Italy. Pricing remains somewhat challenging. Never-theless, Canadian exporters should con-sider shipping at least a portion of their production to Italy as a means of diversi-fying their global market risk. • Canadian BIOMASS 9
Canadian Biomass MayJune 2018: Page 9
