Pellet prices are "not" dropping in NE

[mccabedoug]

In Central MA, pellet prices are not dropping. You CANNOT buy pellets right now for less than $300/ton. Walmart is selling Pennington for $5.75 and Forest's Pride for $6.00. Every other place around, regardless of pellet brand is charging $6.00+ per bag. They are not hard to find as long as you are willing to pay $6.00+ per bag.

I just turned my pellet stove down since I am now burning between 2.5 - 3 bags per day. $18/day is simply too much (for me) to spend on pellet heat when I have a choice. So my furnace is now coming on more frequently since $2.29/gal oil is a helluva lot cheaper.

 

[Wet1]

Did you try pellet sales .com?

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

Well Craig is running ads for this place: (broken link removed) and I think that zeta has used them.

Currently they are delivering hardwood pellets to my zip code at close to $290/ton with 7 to 10 day availability and no delivery charge if you pay by cash or check at time of delivery.

 

[sinnian]

Some of this (Maine Pellet Fuels Association report) does not match up with what NEWP says (broken link removed to http://www.pelletheat.com/core/newsItem/?news_id=20).

first link is broken

try (broken link removed to http://www.maineenergysystems.com/savings_calculator.htm) and then click on Why pellet fuel prices should stay low and it will take you to the PDF.

 

[sinnian]

I have been saying this for the past 6 months.

AS LONG AS CONSUMERS ARE PAYING $300+ PER TON, BUSINESSES WILL CHARGE $300+ TON.

~Stop paying it. Burn oil, idk, but stop paying it!

 

[Dr_Drum]

AS LONG AS CONSUMERS ARE PAYING $300+ PER TON, BUSINESSES WILL CHARGE $300+ TON.

AMEN Brother.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Oil has little (yes some) to do with the price of pellets. The building industry is gone or down to a crawl. So where is the saw dust? I hope you still can go back to oil if you need too.

Eric

Do you honestly believe that pellets are made just from sawdust from saw mills?

Depends on what mill you are using for your pellets.
Eric

 

[webbie]

Do you honestly believe that pellets are made just from sawdust from saw mills?

When I visited the pellet plant, yes, that was where most of the raw materials was coming from - sawmills, furniture factories, etc. etc.

It is possible, of course, to harvest wood for JUST pellets, and at $300 a ton they just might.........but in a normal market, most of the sawdust is left over from various operations.

Still, as Eric has told us, there is competition for that stuff. Lots of uses for it, not just pellets. Although if building is was down, some of those other uses (particle board, etc.) also go down. Then again, in a Depression (which I believe we are in), I doubt that the domestic sawmills and furniture factories are running full bore either.

 

[MCPO]

I have been saying this for the past 6 months.

AS LONG AS CONSUMERS ARE PAYING $300+ PER TON, BUSINESSES WILL CHARGE $300+ TON.

~Stop paying it. Burn oil, idk, but stop paying it!

OK so what`s your solution on how we do this?
All together starting now we will STOP BUYING PELLETS at over $300 per ton till they get the picture.
Yeah right! What in he#@ is everyone gonna do while waiting for the price to drop? Freeze ?

 

[sinnian]

I have been saying this for the past 6 months.

AS LONG AS CONSUMERS ARE PAYING $300+ PER TON, BUSINESSES WILL CHARGE $300+ TON.

~Stop paying it. Burn oil, idk, but stop paying it!

OK so what`s your solution on how we do this?
All together starting now we will STOP BUYING PELLETS at over $300 per ton till they get the picture.
Yeah right! What in he#@ is everyone gonna do while waiting for the price to drop? Freeze ?

Burn oil since it is cheaper!

I have enough pellets for the season, but if you don't, buy oil for $2.04 / gallon (at least here atm). That is a lot cheaper then $300+ / ton. Which is why you have what you have on you signature Gio.

I don't mind breaking even with the price of pellets versus oil, and bought my pellet boiler to be greener as much as I did to try to save money. But I have enough money into this not to waste any more if pellets are $300+ per ton. A price it appears to be due to greed more then anything else. I would almost rather give my money to people that hate me and are willing to admit it, then my countrymen who smile at me then tell me tend bend over.

 

[Steveo]

I installed my pellet stove last year and bought four tons of pellets at a really good price. I am not gonna get hosed and buy pellets at the prices they are at now. I am going to install a nice wood stove in my basement and stock up on the good deals I can find on wood or cut some of my own trees down on my own property. Then when the towel heads want to screw me with high oil prices I will check out pellet pricing and if my neighbors making pellets want to bend me over and screw me I will go to wood lol. If none of that works I guess I will have to move to a warmer place.

The good thing for me is that my house is super insulated and I never burn more than a bag of pellets a day and I keep the stove cranked up.

 

[GVA]

Do you honestly believe that pellets are made just from sawdust from saw mills?

Still, as Eric has told us, there is competition for that stuff. Lots of uses for it, not just pellets. Although if building is was down, some of those other uses (particle board, etc.) also go down. Then again, in a Depression (which I believe we are in), I doubt that the domestic sawmills and furniture factories are running full bore either.

Production is waaaaaayyyyyy down......
There was / is some hope the big furniture companies might reopen their plants in the us instead of china, cost of shipping pirates ETC make China less desireable...... This was the word on the street down here.................... Before the recession really took hold and fuel prices fell...

 

[lessoil]

FYI
Talked to Maine Wood Pellets (Athens) today.
Their new product is $215/ton sold to the public. (Some restrictions)
The ash content is .9%.
I may be driving the 70 miles to swap some of mine for the new stuff.
I want to support a local business if I can.
They burn the returned pellets in their Harman stoves!!

 

[rayttt]

I have been saying this for the past 6 months.

AS LONG AS CONSUMERS ARE PAYING $300+ PER TON, BUSINESSES WILL CHARGE $300+ TON.

~Stop paying it. Burn oil, idk, but stop paying it!

OK so what`s your solution on how we do this?
All together starting now we will STOP BUYING PELLETS at over $300 per ton till they get the picture.
Yeah right! What in he#@ is everyone gonna do while waiting for the price to drop? Freeze ?

Burn oil since it is cheaper!

I have enough pellets for the season, but if you don't, buy oil for $2.04 / gallon (at least here atm). That is a lot cheaper then $300+ / ton. Which is why you have what you have on you signature Gio.

I don't mind breaking even with the price of pellets versus oil, and bought my pellet boiler to be greener as much as I did to try to save money. But I have enough money into this not to waste any more if pellets are $300+ per ton. A price it appears to be due to greed more then anything else. I would almost rather give my money to people that hate me and are willing to admit it, then my countrymen who smile at me then tell me tend bend over.

the price of pellets is not due to greed...
as has been said here numerous times..it is in fact supply and demand..
and the fuel prices cause suppy in costs and ups the cost to run the machinery..
and the biggest cost of making pellets is (according to newp) the cost of electricity
to (most likely for drying) and thats generated usually by diesel fuels also..
when the winters over...there will be a glut of pellets available ..since they are producing
hard still id imagine...
and alot of us have ours already..people will buy and run oil now in alot of cases because its cheaper.

 

[pelletizer]

Funny how certain areas of the country are low but NE and Atlantic Canada (can't find pellets) are priced off the wall, what the heck is it any way? does it have something to do with the fact that this area is a oil burning area and the pellets are marketed and priced accordingly? If so we are being manipulated by the pellet industry just the same as OPEC!

 

[Amaralluis]

Funny how certain areas of the country are low but NE and Atlantic Canada (can't find pellets) are priced off the wall, what the heck is it any way? does it have something to do with the fact that this area is a oil burning area and the pellets are marketed and priced accordingly? If so we are being manipulated by the pellet industry just the same as OPEC!

AMEN BROTHER!

 

[kinsmanstoves]

Funny how certain areas of the country are low but NE and Atlantic Canada (can't find pellets) are priced off the wall, what the heck is it any way? does it have something to do with the fact that this area is a oil burning area and the pellets are marketed and priced accordingly? If so we are being manipulated by the pellet industry just the same as OPEC!

Shipping can add $20 to $75 per ton of pellets. If you are getting them from the mill and they will sell them to you you do not have to pay the dealers percentage.

Eric

 

[tinkabranc]

Gotta shop around....

Some dealers around here charge a per ton delivery price while others
charge a flat fee. Some advertise free shipping, but their pellet prices
are higher becuz the shipping fees are rolled in.

 

[kinsmanstoves]

And then you have to remember CASH helps.

Eric

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

What is even better pelletizer is that I can get pellets shipped from the west coast for less than I have to pay to get pellets shipped less than 100 miles away as the road goes. All this fine service from the same retailer. The same is also true of a great many things.

Maybe the local stuff travels to the west coast and back here, I don't know. Somethings just don't add up.

All of the different brands of pellets costing the same also doesn't really add up either.

 

[PDawg]

5.24 a bag / $262 a ton for Pennington Nature's heat pellets at Sams in Concord. All other local places that I have seen (Walmart, Aubuchon, Agway) are at least $6.00 a bag

 

[Dr_Drum]

About a month ago my neighbor was telling me he went to the local HD and noticed a different pellet brand than the ones he had purchased. They were in the same location and used the same exact display sign which basically just said "Premium Hardwood Pellets" and a hand written price of $5.95/bag or something. When he read the bag, they were softwood and not labeled "premium" at all. He asked the salesman why are you selling these for same price. The salesman said, "Nobody cares about the brand, they're happy we have some, and they're selling great".

Buyer beware,
Mike -

 

[sinnian]

the price of pellets is not due to greed...
as has been said here numerous times..it is in fact supply and demand..
and the fuel prices cause suppy in costs and ups the cost to run the machinery..
and the biggest cost of making pellets is (according to newp) the cost of electricity
to (most likely for drying) and thats generated usually by diesel fuels also..
when the winters over...there will be a glut of pellets available ..since they are producing
hard still id imagine...
and alot of us have ours already..people will buy and run oil now in alot of cases because its cheaper.

Sorry, but that is naive.

There is not a shortage of pellets in Maine, just too high of prices. Therefore it is NOT supply and demand. Additionally, according to the Maine Pellet Fuels Association electricity is only 12% of the cost of producing wood pellets, nor is the wood supply a factor in Maine. Then what is the answer?

PA may be different, but in Maine there is no reason for $300+ / ton pellets with 3 mills in Maine and NEWP and others right next door.

 

[pelletizer]

Manipulation to make a buck, We are all like pellets being manipulated about as they travel down the hopper to their final destination! To Get Burnt!

:ahhh:

 

[tinkabranc]

Apparently there are still lots of people paying these crazy prices
so where is the incentive for the prices to go back down?

If the prices do not go back down by next season I will not be a
happy pellet pig. There is nothing left in my pockets but lint these
days as it is.