Biomass Pellet Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Biomass Pellet Market is projected to expand from USD 13.25 Billion in 2025 to USD 19.92 Billion by 2031, achieving a CAGR of 7.03%. These pellets, which are high-density biofuels created by compressing organic materials like wood residues and agricultural waste into uniform cylinders, are increasingly in demand due to global efforts to decarbonize energy grids. Nations are actively implementing renewable energy targets that require substituting coal in power generation, a shift bolstered by government incentives and environmental regulations favoring low-carbon baseload power. As evidence of the sector's significant scale, Bioenergy Europe reported that global pellet production remained steady at 48.3 million tonnes in the year leading up to 2025.

Despite strong demand, the market struggles with vulnerability to policy fluctuations and a heavy reliance on subsidies. The industry needs stable regulatory frameworks to compete effectively against fossil fuels, but shifting political agendas often result in abrupt changes to support schemes. This legislative instability frequently discourages long-term capital investment in new production facilities and hinders supply chain planning, potentially arresting the capacity expansion required to satisfy future energy needs.

Market Drivers

The increasing use of biomass co-firing in coal power plants serves as a major growth catalyst, particularly as utilities in Asia and Europe aim to utilize existing infrastructure to meet decarbonization goals. Power generators are blending or replacing coal with wood pellets to secure dispatchable, low-carbon baseload electricity that intermittent renewables cannot provide, a trend supported by policies like Feed-in Tariffs.

For example, the Wood Pellet Association of Canada reported in August 2025, in the 'Canadian Wood Pellets at the Forefront of Asia's Energy Transition' report, that eleven new biomass facilities were scheduled to launch in Japan during the year, creating demand for an additional 1.1 million tonnes of fuel. To meet these needs, global supply chains are expanding, with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service noting that U.S. wood pellet exports reached 6.72 million metric tons in the first nine months of 2025.

Simultaneously, the market is being transformed by growing demand for sustainable residential and commercial heating as consumers move away from volatile fossil fuels toward bioenergy. This transition is fueled by subsidies for boiler replacements and strict emission standards that favor efficient pellet stoves over traditional options, with standardization playing a key role in building consumer trust. Highlighting this trend, Bioenergy Europe's June 2025 'Pellets Statistical Report' indicated that ENplus certified pellets comprised approximately 75% of the European heating market, proving the dominance of high-quality fuels. Together, these factors create a balanced dual-channel demand structure, combining massive industrial consumption with widespread residential uptake.

Market Challenges

The primary barrier hindering the Global Biomass Pellet Market is the sector's susceptibility to legislative instability and its significant reliance on subsidy frameworks. Since developing pellet production facilities demands considerable upfront capital, investors require assurance that regulatory support will endure throughout the asset's operational life. However, when governments alter political priorities or abruptly change incentive structures, it disrupts the financial predictability needed for long-term projects, thereby increasing the risk profile of biomass ventures and causing financiers to withhold necessary capital for new plants and infrastructure.

This investment hesitation has a tangible impact on the industry's expansion rate. As reported by the World Bioenergy Association in 2025, global bioenergy installed capacity growth decelerated to 3% over the previous year, highlighting the restrictive nature of the current regulatory environment. Without stable and guaranteed support mechanisms, the industry faces difficulties competing with established fossil fuel markets, leaving producers unable to commit to the supply chain improvements required to achieve future decarbonization objectives.

Market Trends

The expansion of intercontinental biomass pellet trade routes is fundamentally altering global logistics, with Southeast Asian production hubs increasingly supplying the energy needs of North Asian economies. This trend is characterized by maturing supply chains that link resource-rich nations like Vietnam with Japan and South Korea, relying on established long-term offtake agreements to meet renewable targets that domestic forestry cannot fulfill. Confirmation of this trade growth is evident in a March 2025 report by VnEconomy, titled 'Vietnam's wood pellet industry has plenty of room to grow', which noted that Vietnam's wood pellet exports rose to 6.03 million tons in 2024, marking a significant 29.1% increase in volume compared to the prior year.

At the same time, the integration of agricultural residues for feedstock diversification is increasing as manufacturers seek to mitigate fiber supply risks and address deforestation concerns linked to traditional timber. By utilizing waste streams like rice husks and wheat straw, the industry decouples production from forestry cycles and provides a solution to open-field burning, a shift notably occurring in agrarian economies with agro-based biomass mandates. Highlighting this adoption, Argus Media reported in December 2025, in the 'Indian coal plants raise biomass co-firing in FY2024-25' article, that overall biomass consumption in India, consisting largely of agricultural residue pellets, reached 1.62 million tonnes in the fiscal year ending March 2025, representing a fourfold increase from the previous year.

Key Players Profiled in the Biomass Pellet Market

• Enviva Inc.
• Drax Biomass Ltd.
• Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc.
• Graanul Invest AS
• Pacific BioEnergy Corp.
• Green Circle Bio Energy LLC
• Svenska Cellulosa AB
• Verdo AS
• Lignetics, Inc.
• German Pellets GmbH

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Biomass Pellet Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Biomass Pellet Market, by Source:

• Industrial Waste & Co-product
• Agriculture Residue
• Food Waste
• Energy Crops
• Virgin Lumber
• others

Biomass Pellet Market, by Type:

• Wood Pellets
• Agri Pellets
• Torrefied Pellets
• Others

Biomass Pellet Market, by Application:

• Power Generation
• Industrial Heating
• Residential Heating
• Others

Biomass Pellet Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Biomass Pellet Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

This product will be delivered within 1-3 business days.