Wood Pellets Prices Can Be Volatile

The prices of wood pellets is one of the main attraction for people to install wood pellet stoves and boilers to replace their existing oil or gas based systems. The prices of wood pellets fluctuate depending on the season, for obvious reasons wood pellets prices are higher in winter than summer. Due to this trend, it generally makes sense to secure your supply of wood pellets in the summer, ready for the winter heating season. Other factors which effect pellets prices are the prices of oil, gas and electricity. Wood pellet prices will always be cheaper, however their price is effected by the cost of electricity as it increased the cost of wood pellet fuel production.

Wood Pellets For Sale and Fuel Pellets

There are various different types and grades of fuel pellets available for sale. The most common type of pellets for sale are premium wood pellets, and then lower grades of wood pellets. However it is becoming more common for other types of pellets to be sold.

For example straw pellets are not commonly used in coal fired power stations. More of these straw pellets are entering the retail pellet fuel market. These straw fuel pellets can be acquired much cheaper than wood pellets, at around half the cost. However, they do generate significantly more ash and also have issues with clinker and slag formations. Before using straw pellets you must check you pellet burner can handle the pellets effectively without complications.

Premium Wood Pellets and Pellet Costs

The most expensive wood pellets are premium wood pellets. Premium wood pellets are produced from only selective wood resources, to produce a wood pellet with the lower ash content possible. With such a low ash content they do require less maintenance to clean to the pellet stove and boiler. Therefore premium wood pellet prices are consistently more than other pellets.

There are wood fuel pellets which demand lower prices, for example wood pellets made from whole wood residues including the bark. The bark generally can increase the ash percentage of the pellets, and therefore increase maintenance requirements. However these resources are far more abundant than the resources used to produce premium wood pellet fuels, and therefore the prices of these pellets is much less.

Wood Pellets Suppliers and Fuel Supply

Finding a good wood pellets supplier is vital for an affordable and reliable source of quality wood pellets. For instance, wood pellets are not only a form of cheaper home heating compared to oil or gas systems, they are also supposed to be a lower carbon alternative. However the source of the wood pellets is vital to how green the pellets actually are. Some wood pellet suppliers source their pellet fuels from developing countries, where the costs of production are much cheaper. Therefore even with the additional cost of shipping, they are still able to get the pellets at a cheaper price than locally made wood fuel pellets.

However these pellets do have a higher carbon footprint than locally made pellet fuels, and in many cases there are issues with the quality of the fuel pellets. To learn more about the pellet production process and how wood pellets are made, please click below. If you enter your details you will get access to 5 free guides. You will also see a video of the Mini Pellet Mill.

The Wood Pellet Production Guide © PelHeat Ltd - Wood Pellets Prices Can Be Volatile