Global Wood Chips Market Overview

The Global Wood Chips Market size is expected to grow from USD 9.15 billion in 2023 to USD 18.15 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 7.91% during the forecast period (2024-2032).

Small to medium-sized pieces of wood, such as branches, trees, stumps, and debris from forestry operations are turned into woodchips by cutting or chipping bigger pieces of wood. Woodchips are the raw material for making wood pulp and can be used as a biomass solid fuel. They can be utilized as a substrate for the growth of mushrooms as well as an organic mulch for landscaping, gardening, and ecosystem restoration. Using a wood chipper, the process of creating woodchips is known as wood chipping. The kind of wood chipper utilized and the substance used to make the chips determine what kind of woodchips are produced after chipping. Forest chips are made from forested areas, while wood residue chips are made from off-cuts, recycled wood, and untreated wood residues. Sawing residue chips are made from sawmill leftovers. Short rotation forestry chips are another type of woodchip (from energy crops).

Additionally, woodchips can be made from pulpwood, waste wood, and leftover wood from logging, sawmills, agricultural, landscaping, and landscaping. Additionally, forestry debris such as tree crowns, limbs, unsalable parts, or undersized trees can be used to make woodchips. The stability and long-term growth of the forests from which wood chips are taken may be harmed by their increased use, even though they have some advantages. Additionally, wood pellets have been identified as one of the bioenergy areas with the highest global growth in recent years. As a result, the rising demand for wood chips accelerates the growth of the market over the forecast period.

Market Dynamics And Factors For Wood Chips Market

Drivers:

Growing Demand for Wood Chips

• The most important factor driving demand for wood chips is an increase in demand from the pulp industry. Wood chips are used to manufacture pulp, which is subsequently burned to produce biochar, also known as charcoal. Furthermore, the rising need for renewable energy generation leads to market expansion. As conventional energy sources deplete, the rising usage of renewable energy sources such as biomass is boosting the wood chips industry. Increased demand for wood chips in the pulp industry, where wood chips are used as a raw material to make pulp, is also driving the growth of the wood chips market. When wood chips are burned, biochar, also known as charcoal, is produced. It can be burned as charcoal or used as fertilizer in the soil. During the projected period, this is also expected to drive the wood chips market. The rising demand for thermal energy generation utilizing renewable and green feedstock materials is expected to help the market. The greater energy coefficient of wood chips is predicted to keep demand high during the projection period. During the forecast period, the wood chips market is likely to be stymied by requirements for sustainability-related certifications and restrictions on GHG emissions from wood chips used for energy generation.

Restraints:

Downsides of Using Wood Chips and The Availability of Alternatives

• Market growth is hampered by price volatility brought on by shifting raw material costs, climatic variations, and strict regulatory standards governing the growing of wood. The market growth rate for wood chips will face difficulties as a result of these reasons. However, it is anticipated that the usage of wood pellets as a substitute for wood chips and their rising penetration into the residential and commercial sectors for power production will hinder the growth of the wood chip market.

Opportunity:

Wood Chip Feeding Technology of the Future for Small-scale Biomass Boilers

• Wood chip boilers are one of the key technologies, although there are already 0.7 million small-scale biomass boilers sold in Europe each year. By 2020, it is anticipated that number would climb to 1.6 million. The fuel feeding methods used with these wood chip boilers continue to be a significant weak point. They cause 80 to 90 percent of unforeseen plant shutdowns, more emissions, and lower efficiency. Additionally, discharge from the bottom predominates in currently used feeding systems, which has the drawbacks of requiring large constructions, wearing down equipment more quickly, complicating maintenance, and having high operating expenses. Creating a novel wood chip feeding method for small-scale heating plants was the objective of BioChipFeeding. A gripper that enables feeding from above the pile of stored fuel is a key part of the system. It will be fitted with sensors to check the gasoline's moisture content and particle size, allowing it to produce the right fuel blends and maintain fairly consistent fuel quality. In addition, a brand-new fuel feeding screw that can continuously convey wood chips into the furnace regardless of shape or size will be created. Due to a more consistent and equal fuel supply, the performance of the boiler will be substantially improved with this innovative technology. It should be particularly appealing to customers due to lower operation and maintenance expenses, which will greatly expand its possibilities for use.

Segmentation Analysis Of Wood Chips Market

• By Product Type, the softwood segment is anticipated to dominate the wood chips market over the forecast period. The segment is anticipated to grow throughout the predicted period because of increased demand for items like garden pulp and other uses like playground surfaces. Throughout the projection period, demand is anticipated to increase due to the high carbon content of hardwood goods.
• By Raw materials, forest chips are expected to hold the maximum market share over the forecast period. Log chips made from stem wood make up forest chips. Chips are made entirely from the biomass found above ground in a tree. chipping up leftover wood from branches, rubbish, etc. A significant number of needles, bark, and branches are present in wood chips manufactured from forest leftover wood (in this case, spruce). Due to the vast array of potential raw materials and processing techniques, the quality of forest woodchips as a fuel varies greatly.
• By Application, the combined Heat and Power segment is expected to grow at a faster pace during the forecast period. During the projected period, demand for the product as a fuel in combined heat and power applications is anticipated to soar. One of the product's most popular uses is residential heating, but because pellets are so widely used for interior heating, residential heating's growth is expected to be limited. Wood chips are anticipated to grow in popularity as garden mulch due to their remarkable water-absorbing qualities and low product prices.

Regional Analysis Of Wood Chips Market

• Asia Pacific economies, notably China and Japan, are experiencing an increase in demand for these chips in the commercial energy generation sector, which is boosting the regional market. The inclusion of precondition constraints in the Renewable Energy Directive 2 (RED 2) and the existence of GHG emission criteria in developing nations together are likely to promote market expansion. Additionally, Japan's Feed-In Tariff program, which offers incentives for the use of biomass, is assisting the industry's expansion in APAC. In addition, the countries in the region are increasingly using wood chips for household heating.  The Feed-in-Tariff subsidy program is helping Japan create a sizable pipeline of biomass projects. Japan, which exports a significant amount of wood chips for pulp and paper, is anticipated to increase the number of wood chips it uses for domestic energy production.
• Europe is expected to hold a significant market share of the global wood chips market, closely followed by South and North America. Historically, small-scale (20MW) facilities in Europe have generated heat and electricity using wood chips. For this purpose, local wood is typically used. For many years, West Africa has provided wood chips for energy, albeit in relatively tiny quantities. In Europe, the majority of the time, wood that has been grown locally is used to generate heat.
• South American eucalyptus plantations are a key source of supplies for pulpmills in China and Japan. However, due to the increased availability of plantation fiber in Southeast Asia (mostly from Vietnam) and the rising demand for fiber from local pulpmills in Latin America, the share of Latin America in overall Asian import volumes has decreased over the previous five years. As a result, since 2018, when a record high of 4.6 million odmt was established, total export volumes from the continent have continuously decreased. Chile has been Latin America's largest exporter for the past ten years. However, in 2021, the nation's shipments decreased as Brazil and Uruguay expanded their proportions of the continent's supply of wood chips for export.
• Due to customers' growing reliance on conventional energy sources, demand for the product is expected to remain moderate across the Middle East. In addition, it is anticipated that a lack of home heating use of the product in the Middle East will restrain market expansion in the area.

Top Key Players Covered In Wood Chips Market

• St. Boniface Pallet
• American Wood Resources
• Axpo Group
• Great Northern Timber
• EVOWORLD GmbH
• Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
• Cogent Fibre
• Enviva Pellets
• Oji Holdings
• Orsted A/S
• Sojitz Corporation
• Verdo A/S and other major players.

Key Industry Development In The Wood Chips Market

• In March 2024, Orsted announced its plan to expand its biomass power generation capacity across Europe, driving up the demand for wood chips as a fuel source.
• In March 2024, Great Northern Timber announced its collaboration with a local conservation group to plant new trees in areas previously cut for wood chips. This project is estimated to demonstrate the company's commitment to sustainable forestry methods.