I’ve read Erin Voegele’s web story “Report predicts increase in Russian wood pellet production” at least three times. Even outside of a professional context, I’m fascinated by Russia so a combo platter of Russia and bioenergy news is a home run. It is also rare. After working in bioenergy for six years I can count the number of times I’ve read about or written about bioenergy production in Russia on one hand. Perhaps that is about to change.

Voegele reports that Russia is the third largest exporter of wood pellets in the world, tucked right behind the United States and Canada. I was surprised to learn that while export activity is confined to a double handful of producers, there are over 100 producers in the country, down from nearly 150 in 2010. Not surprisingly, Russian pellets are shipped to Scandinavian buyers with Denmark taking nearly half of exported volumes.

In so many ways, a robust pellet industry is a logical fit in Russia. The forested area in Russia is more than Canada and the United States combined. You have to add China to the US and Canada to eclipse Russian forest inventories. The vastness of Russia’s forest resource boggles the mind.

Russia is also perfectly situated to serve both European pellet markets as well as Asian markets, should demand there really begin to ratchet up. One of the better conversations I had at the 2014 European Pellet Conference in Wels, Austria was with a representative from a port operator from St. Petersburg and a forestry professional from Ukraine. This conversation happened just days before Russia annexed Crimea. An Irish conference goer pointedly asked them about the role of bribes in their cultures and each offered that, yes, bribes are a part of life in that part of the world. This brings me to one of the challenges that I think Russian producers will have to confront. The world believes that Russia is difficult to do business with. This was a talking point in Wels and more than one presenter made reference to the Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International. The index, according to the website, “measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide”. Russia does not do well, ranking 136 out of 175 in the 2014 results. Interestingly, the country that has the number #1 ranking is Denmark, Russia’s largest buyer of wood pellets. Clearly the Danes have developed a comfort level. Still, the trend towards greater transparency on feedstocks from producers is not likely to abate and Russian producers, like all producers, will have to prove to policy makers in pellet buying countries that their feedstock procurement practices are sustainable. 

Immediately after reading Voegele’s story I emailed Pellet Mill Magazine associate editor Katie Fletcher suggesting that an expansive story on the Russian pellet sector would be a great fit for our January/ February issue of Pellet Mill Magazine which is dedicated to European production and markets.As always, any help connecting with good sources is appreciated by our team. If you’ve got connections with Russian producers, please do not hesitate to reach out. To do this story right, we’ll need to get started now.