Pellet shipments from the US and Canada to Europe have gone in opposite directions in 2014, with the shipments from the US South being up ten percent from the 4Q/13 to the 2Q/14, and Canadian volumes declining 25% during the same period, according to the North American Wood Fiber Review.

Timber harvests in British Columbia plunged by over 40 percent between 2005 and 2009, but have since recovered and were close to the 25-year average in 2011. As a consequence of the infestation of the mountain pine beetle, long-term log supply is estimated to be about 20 percent below historical levels unless different management regimes are implemented.

Wood chip exports from Latin America are on track to reach a record high of almost eight million tons in 2011, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. This would be an increase of seven percent from last year and of almost 60 percent higher than in 2006.

More than 80 million wood chips, valued at almost $10 billion U.S., are traded annually in the open market worldwide and the shipment volumes are increasing.