Global Timber Trade - Information

The source of data from which the following charts have been prepared for this webpage is Trade Statistics of Japan ("Customs by Commodity by Country")

For reasons which are not clear, the data from this source differ substantially from data "Commodity by Country"

 
Japan's imports of wood pellets (by customs district)


Japan's imports of wood pellets from Canada (by customs district)

Japan's imports of wood pellets from Vietnam (by customs district)


The weight of pellets which the charts indicate is imported through the customs districts shown probably reflects the weight burned in the power stations in locations of the same name listed below.

Competition between imported pellets and pellets or chips from forest or plantations in Japan make the data for mix of fuel and weight presented in the following list unreliable.

 
Power stations which might burn the imported pellets:
Hachinohe:  Oji Holdings with Mitubishi Paper;  75MW;  chips, pks and coal.
Hitachi (Hitachinaka):  TEPCO;  cofiring with coal.
Ishinomaki (Hibarino):  Nippon Paper;  149MW;  pellets and coal.
Kawasaki (Keihin):  Sumitomo Forestry;  33MW;  180,000tpa chips.
Kawasaki (Keihin):  Showa Shell;  49MW;  100,000tpa Canadian pellets, also pks
Kinuura (Handa):  Sumitomo Corporation;  75MW.
Maizuru:  cofiring with coal (now zero, previously 60,000tpa pellets).
Onahama (Ijai): Air & Water Energia with Chugoku Electric Power;  75MW;  pellets and pks.
Sakata:  Sumitomo Corporation;   50MW;  100,000tpa imported pellets, 160,000tpa local chips.
Sooma:  Sooma Energy Park with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries;  cofiring with coal.
Tobata (Hibikinada):  Orix;  112MW;  cofiring with coal.
Tomakomai:  Mitsui, Sumitomo Forestry;  6MW;  local wood
Ube:  Ube Industries (Isa cement mill);  cofiring;  (torrefied pellets in future?).

Power stations underconstruction or planned nearby:
Kanda:  Renova, Sumitomo Forestry;  75MW;  360,000tpa imported & local wood, pks.
Tomakomai:  Sojitz, Nippon Paper;  75MW;  imported chips, local wood, pks.


Click here [pages 16 & 17] for a discussion of the supply of woody biomass for power from sources in Japan.
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