In April last year, the Government of Serbia decided to temporarily ban the import of pellets, at the initiative of the Ministry of Energy, writes Danas.
The decision has come into effect. 13. April with a validity period of 90 days, and the ban was extended for the same period in July, October and December to be lifted on March 4, one month before the expiry of the validity period.
According to the director of the wood processing company "Bio energy point" (Bioenergy point), Mladen Stojadinović, this decision will have a negative impact on domestic production, because much cheaper pellets will arrive from neighboring countries.
"If nothing changes, from a competitive point of view, domestic producers will have to close production." The situation is such that much cheaper pellets can arrive from the surrounding countries than this one here. The price of pellets can be indirectly influenced by the state because it influences the price of resources, electricity, fuel. "We have a situation where all these prices in the surrounding countries are significantly lower than here," Stojadinović points out.
The unfavorable situation of domestic producers will be affected by the fact that the prices of resources and raw materials in other countries are significantly lower, writes Danas.
"Due to natural disasters, Croatia practically gives away wood to its wood processors to clean up their forests, so they only pay for cutting and extraction. This puts them in a dominant competitive position that we cannot match. Even fuel is cheaper in Croatia than here," explains Stojadinović.
As he adds, when it comes to Montenegro, "they have their own wood from concessions, these are completely different prices and other ways of acquiring raw materials, so they can afford to make pellets cheaper than we can currently, because the prices of raw materials, electricity and fuel are dictated exclusively by the state." Also, all that is much cheaper in Bosnia and Herzegovina".
At the end of February this year, the European Commission launched an investigation against "Hrvatske šuma" (HŠ), a state-owned company, which offered non-market prices to some Croatian wood processors who signed a contract with it for the purchase of wood, thereby creating unfair competition.
In addition, HŠ did not pay the state the exclusive right of management and commercial use of Croatian public forests, which can be considered an economic advantage compared to private forest owners.
How affordable is pellet heating?
The heating season is coming to an end. During this season, Serbian households spent from 53.000 to 200.000 dinars on heating, depending on the type of heating used, but also on where, for example, firewood is purchased, the quality of the devices used and numerous other factors.
The Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia published a list of costs for different types of energy for heating, and the difference between several types of heating goes up to almost 150.000 dinars for the season.
They took as an example the heating of an average insulated living space of 60 square meters at 20 degrees Celsius, for 16 hours a day in the entire apartment, 180 days in the heating season, which requires energy of about 9.000 kWh, because 150 kWh per square meter is the average estimated consumption for heating in Serbia.
Those who heat with pellets were relieved this winter, at least compared to last year. If they have efficient stoves designed for this fuel, they had expenses of 65.000 dinars. Last year, the same cost them 84.600 dinars or 23 percent more.
Source: Today
