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home > radio > maine news > news story Maine NewsDemand For Wood Pellets Raises Supply Worries
With the rising cost of oil prices, many Mainers are purchasing wood pellet stoves to warm their homes. But the sharp increase in demand for pellets has brought supply to a trickle in retail stores statewide, making some consumers worry that their orders won't be filled by the time colder weather arrives. At least one pellet manufacturer assures stove owners there will be enough pellets to go around. At Granville Stone and Hearth in Holden, 59-year-old Gayle Alimo of Hermon is picking up a new, $3,000 wood pellet stove. She says she's eager to see some of that amount return to her in the form of savings on her oil bills. "We've had wood stoves but what we like about the pellet stove there's no ash, you can leave it and not worry in the daytime, the cleanness of it and not having to haul wood up and down the stairs." Granville sales manager Dan Howard says that after a summer of nonstop pellet stove sales, he's having trouble keeping pellets in stock. "I don't think it's time to panic. I mean, it's only September. But I think that people should be concerned because a lot of people are hoarding them that will never burn them in a season. Hopefully we'll be able to come through this. This whole pellet stove surge has really caught the industry off guard." Howard is encouraging customers to only purchase as much as they need. He says a 2,000-square-foot home will normally burn about 3 tons of pellets a year, but some customers are purchasing 6 or 7 tons at a time. "We try to discourage them from purchasing more than they need. We're trying to make sure they keep it in perspective. They can always get more later on in the season if they need to." About 30 miles northwest in Corinth, the 32 employees of Corinth Wood Pellets are working hard to keep up with demand. CEO George Soffron says business is booming. "We produce oh approximately 7 tons an hour. And we work 3 shifts a day, 5 days a week. Demand is very strong. I know we're increasing capacity. We're hoping to double capacity by November." Soffron says he and his sales manager receive calls daily from retail stores desperate for more pellets. But he says the current shortage is temporary. "If everybody had a 2,000-gallon oil tank and everybody wanted to buy their entire winter's oil in July, there would be an oil shortage as well. So I think we're experiencing the same sort of phenomenon in pellets. But there will be a lot of pellets manufactured all winter long, so I don't think people need to panic." Despite the harmful effects of high diesel fuel costs and a slow housing market on the state's logging industry, Soffron says he has plenty of supply. He says 70 percent of the wood he turns into pellets is scraps from other businesses - such as furniture and golf tee manufacturers. The remaining 30 percent he purchases from the timber market. And Soffron has cast a wider net by hiring a full-time forester to look into paying local land owners to allow the company to clear unwanted wood from their property. "We're investing in that licensed forester now and talking with landowners now and building up an inventory of small land that we'll then work with a logger and get him properly certified for sustainable harvesting and then harvest that wood the right way." Even as Soffron increases his production capacity, pellet prices continue to rise. At Granville lumber, a ton of pellets costs $245. Last fall, the same amount cost $219.
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