Recovered wood in The Netherlands - TCHN

Markets for recovered wood in Europe;
case studies The Netherlands and Germany based on
the BioXchange project
Mark van Benthem, Probos (Institute for Forestry
and Forest Products)

EU Project BioXchange
• fusion of 2 projects:
– BioXchange: initiator Ecofys NL
– European Biomass Databank: initiator Probos
NL

Partners
• Biomass Trading Floor:
Ecofys (NL), Ecofys (Germany), 3E nv (Belgium), ESD Ltd
(UK), ABEX GmbH (Austria), MVV (Germany),
Reststoffenbeurs (NL)
• Market Information:
Probos (NL), INFRO (Germany), UniHH
(Germany), Skogforsk (Sweden), KAPE
(Poland), British BioGen (UK)

Outcome BioXchange
• Information on:
– Market structure
– Availability
– Primary disposers
– Domestic uses
– Exports
– Prices
– Market developments

Woody biomass market information
• Recovered wood GER, NL
Probos in corporation with University of
Hamburg (Mantau & Weimar): ‘Origin and
Commercialisation Structure of Post-Consumer
Wood in Germany and The Netherlands’
• Industrial wood residues NL, GER, SW
• Forestry biomass SW, UK, PL

Recovered wood in Germany
• Prof. Udo Mantau, University of Hamburg
• Extensive study started in 2001
• Identification of companies: 1800 contacted
1050 working with wood respons 955
• Follow up in 2003: 225 companies

Case Germany
Number of companies & amount

Case Germany
Origin

Case Germany
Quality

Case Germany
Sales

Case Germany
Distribution domestic and export

Case Germany
Domestic distribution

Case Germany
Distribution export

Case Germany
Prices by categories & company size

Case Germany
Summary
Market volume in 2001 is 6.5 million tons (former
estimates 12 million tons)
Use for energy 72 % (2001: 56 %)
Export decreased to 11% (2001: 15%)
Prices vary, on quality, between – 40 and + 21
Euro per ton & increase with size of disposal unit
60 % of trade with fixed contracts
Growing market concentration

Case The Netherlands
Recovered wood in NL in 2003
• Nico Leek & Leen Kuiper, Probos Foundation (NL)
• Literature and questionnaire
• Questionnaire to sorting and trading companies
• 23 companies, 18 responded (74%): represent 90%
of all waste handling in NL

Case The Netherlands
Size distribution of companies

Case The Netherlands
Availability in kton
Total Export Domestic use
A wood 495 280 215
B wood 705 655 50
C wood 50 35 15
Total (90 %)
Total (100 %)
1.250
1.390
970 280

Case The Netherlands
Origin recovered wood
by official statistics & other studies

Case The Netherlands
Export recovered wood in kton
Panelboard industry Energy
Germany 168 353
Belgium 148 0
Sweden 0 48
Italy 250 0
Total 566 401

Case The Netherlands
Prices (2004)
Until recently disposing (A-quality) wood
residues cost between 100 and 200 Euro
per container, by now we get paid
between 50 to 150 Euro. (woodprocessing company in
Dutch Timber Trade magazine (Houtwereld, March 2007)

Case The Netherlands
Summary
Annual market volume 1.39 million tons
80 % is exported:
to particle board industry in Italy, Germany
and Belgium
energy industry in Germany and Sweden
Trade more and more controlled by
international operating waste companies

Case The Netherlands
Market developments
• Less profitable
• Increasingly mixing A and B quality
• Use of recovered wood for energy in NL
frustrated by (environmental) legislation in
NL
• Strong increase in export to energy sector in
Germany (EEG)

More information:
MANTAU, U.; WEIMAR, H.; KUIPER, L.; LEEK, N.: Project
co-operation Locations of the timber industry and
BioXchange - Origin and commercialisation of Post-
Consumer Wood in Germany and The Netherlands.
University of Hamburg, Department of Wood Science,
Section of Economics of Forest Products, Germany and
Probos, The Netherlands. Hamburg 2005.
BioXchange: the trading floor for biomass in Europe
(December, 2005) by Ecofys; 3E; ESD; Reststoffenbeurs;
Probos; University of Hamburg; Infro; Skogforsk; KAPE
and BBG.
www.bioXchange.com

Thank you for your attention
Mark van Benthem
Probos Foundation
6700 AG Wageningen
The Netherlands
+31 (0)317 466560
Mark.vanbenthem@probos.net
www.probos.net