Forest2Market News
PiiMega Adds Forest2Market Data Export Module to PiiMega® ForestPro and TimberPro

By Forest2Market
Independent sawmills using both Forest2Market’s delivered wood price benchmark service and PiiMega’s logistics and harvesting management (ForestPro) or sawmill operations ERP (TimberPro) software can now use the Forest2Market data export module to submit data directly to the Baltic Rim Benchmark service.
Latvia’s Vibrant Forest Industry Part I: Timber Supply & Investment

By John Greene
Last month, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service published a detailed report through its Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) on the forestry sector and forest products industry in Latvia. As a country with vast acres of dense timberland and a vibrant forest products industry, forestry is a major contributor to the country’s export economy; in 2015 alone, Latvia exported over $2 billion worth of forest industry products. As Scandinavian and Baltic countries continue to competitively access more foreign markets, Latvia’s forest products industry is positioned for growth.

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Latvia’s Vibrant Forest Industry Part II: Imports & Exports

By John Greene

Latvia is home to 23 pellet mills, which produced 1.35 million tons of mostly industrial-grade pellets in 2015. Production was largely exported to Denmark (500,000 metric tons) and the UK (600,000 metric tons), while the remaining pellets were distributed in Sweden, Italy and other European destinations. Because a vast majority of Latvia’s production is exported, its domestic market remains relatively small at around 100,000 metric tons.
Urban Wood Waste: Are You Overlooking a Viable Feedstock?

By Javon Carter

Waste wood materials are generated in virtually all urban areas as a consequence of urban and suburban growth. While this material is often overlooked as a raw material resource or feedstock, it has the potential to add tangible market value in a number of ways while providing environmental benefits.
4Q2016 Update: Bioenergy Projects Underway in Scandinavia & the Baltics

By John Greene
In a major step towards reaching Copenhagen's goal of being CO2-neutral by 2025, Denmark’s Avedøre Power Station is now able to produce electricity and heat from wood pellets and straw, rather than coal and gas. For the last 18 months, Avedøre has been in the process of converting its coal-fired power station unit and the entire combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant to run on biomass.

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Estonia’s Vibrant Forest Industry Part I: Timber Supply & Investment

By John Greene
Last month, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service published a  detailed report through its Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) on the forestry sector and forest products industry in Estonia. Since 2011, and in the wake of the Great Recession, the Estonian timber industry has shown stable growth; the forest and wood industry’s share of Estonian GDP reached 22 percent in 2014. (For reference, the industry accounted for approximately 4 percent of total US manufacturing GDP in 2015.) As evidenced by this tremendous number, it is clear that the forest product industry is one of the most important contributors to the Estonian economy.

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Estonia’s Vibrant Forest Industry Part II: Imports & Exports

By John Greene
Per a 2016  article in  Biomass Magazine, the entire Baltic region is becoming more and more competitive in the global wood pellet market. “Thirty-five percent of aggregate EU28 exports in 2014 came from the Baltic states—20 percent from Latvia, 10 percent Estonia and 5 percent Lithuania. Globally, 27.1 million metric tons of pellets were produced in 2014, about half, or 13.5 million, produced in the EU. Total production in the Baltic states amounted to 2.65 million tons in 2014, much of which was exported. Russia and the Baltic states combined produced 4.15 million tons of wood pellets during 2014. Producers in countries like the Baltics and Russia can more easily distribute their production to serve local European markets as opposed to overseas producers.”

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Planned Biofuel & Lumber Facility Would be Boon for Newfoundland

By John Greene
The Canadian forest products industry continues to develop cooperative partnerships to maximize the use of wood raw materials while expanding the biobased product offerings from the forest. As we noted last summer,  FPInnovations  and Resolute Forest Products announced a planned joint venture to manufacture biobased products (sugar stream C5, C6 and h-lignan) at Resolute’s Thunder Bay pulp and paper mill. Such relationships will be important for profitability as the industry continues to consolidate in many sectors. Forward-thinking forest organizations are innovating to take advantage of these new opportunities, as the expansion of biobased products will represent a significant portion of the forest products industry of the future.

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Proposed Biorefinery Would Represent Largest Industrial Investment in Estonia

By John Greene
A cutting edge, commercial scale biorefinery that will also create green energy may become a reality if a group of Estonian investors have their way. While the ambitious project is still in its infancy, the vision is to establish the most modern biorefinery in Europe via a €1 billion investment, making it the single largest industry investment in Estonia. This type of forward-thinking commitment to forest products technology and manufacturing will one day be the norm but for now (as the world appears reluctant to abandon its dependence on fossil energy), a pair of seasoned forest-industry veterans are leading the charge.

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DOE Announces Funding for Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biopower Projects

By John Greene
Just before 2016 came to a close, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of six projects for up to $12.9 million in federal funding. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) and initiative is titled “Project Definition for Pilot- and Demonstration-Scale Manufacturing of Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biopower,” and it represents new investment in a few select projects operating within these forward-thinking energy sectors. These select projects are required to share the cost at a minimum of 50 percent, and will develop and execute plans for the manufacturing of advanced or cellulosic biofuels, bioproducts, refinery-compatible intermediates, and/or biopower in a domestic pilot- or demonstration-scale integrated biorefinery. 

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