Spatial analysis of the wood pellet production for energy in Europe

At a European level, four main production areas were identified, defined as: “Central Europe” (Bavaria, Austria, and neighbouring areas of France, Switzerland and Italy), “Scandinavia”, “Finland”, and the “Baltic”. These areas concentrated over 50% of the pellet production, although presented different characteristics regarding market establishment and development, their role in the global pellet trade and their raw material availability. The paper provides with methodological tools to identify and characterise the main pellet production areas in Europe that can have further economic and policy applications.