In 2022, RZ Pellets is the biggest manufacturer in Austria, with its seven production sites and a capacity of 450,000 tons. RZ Pellets’ output totaled 422,000 tons. Pfeifer Holz follows in second place with an overall capacity of 205,000 tons (production target in 2021: 175,000 t). The company’s pellet mill in Kundl alone, the biggest single production site in Austria, can produce 150,000 tons. Binderholz operates four pellet mills in Austria and reported a capacity of 172,000 tons in 2021. Peter Seppele in Carinthia ranks fourth with 145,000 tons (production target in 2021: 140,000 t).
In Germany, Ante-Holz had an annual production capacity of 425,000 tons at its two plants in Bromskirchen-Somplar and Rottleberode in 2021. Sägewerk Schwaiger of Hengersberg the operates the biggest single production site in Germany with 330,000 tons a year, closely followed by Wismar Pellets and Pfeifer Holz with 250,000 tons a year, respectively.
Schwaiger Holzindustrie produced the biggest quantity of wood pellets in Germany in 2021, i.e. 285,000 tons. EC Bioenergie with its five pellet mills reached an output of 215,000 tons. Holzwerke Weinzierl follows in third place with 210,000 tons. It has to be said that only companies which reported their production volumes are included here. Holz Pfeifer with its two plants in Lauterbach and Unterbernbach as well as Wismar Pellets were both in fourth place with 200,000 tons each.
Pfeifer Holz still operates two production sites in the Czech Republic. In 2021, the company reported a capacity of 635,000 tons and an output of 542,000 tons in all three countries (six pellet mills in total). When you add the production sites in Germany, Binderholz’s capacity totals 352,000 tons.
Since 2021, two other wood processing companies have been producing pellets from their own wood waste, namely HS Timber Group at its Kodersdorf site (capacity: 198,000 t) and Ziegler Naturenergie in Pressath (245,000 t in the first phase of expansion). Ziegler Group plans to raise the annual production capacity at the site in Upper Palatinate to 300,000 tons in a second phase. Holzwerke Ladenburger started producing pellets in Bopfingen in 2021 (capacity: 60,000 t) and so did Rettenmeier Holzindustrie in Ramstein (120,000 t). In 2022, pellet production started at Lenne Pellets (25,000 t) and Pieper Holz (100,000 t).
In Austria, capacity increased by 350,000 tons. Three integrated production sites, namely Donausäge Rumplmayr, Holzindustrie Kirnbauer and EHO Pellets, went into operation this year. Cycleenergy in Aschach (36,000 t) and RZ Pellets with its seventh pellet mill in Sollenau (40,000 t) as well as Nawaro Energie Betrieb (80,000 t) have put new production sites into operation. Furthermore, companies Andreas Wiesbauer (from 4,000 to 25,000 t) and Schößwendter Holz (from 25,000 to 70,000 t) have substantially increased their capacities.
In Switzerland, Tschopp Holzindustrie was the biggest pellet manufacturer in 2021, with a capacity of 130,000 tons and a production volume of 120,000 tons. AEK Pellets is in second place with an output of 60,000 tons, followed by Lehmann Holzwerk with 31,000 tons of pellets produced in 2021.
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Instructions: Select the desired year on the top left. The size of the circle symbolizes the output of single production sites (according to research by Timber-Online). When clicking on one of the circles, you can see the production development and the address of the selected company below the interactive map. In order to compare companies, keep the shift button pressed and click on the desired production sites.
1 = the company did not report figures
0 = data were not collected, or years before production was started up / after production was ceased