Japan’s biomass demand rises in May

Aug. 31,
2010, Tokyo, Japan – Japan's biomass consumption for power generation in May
2010 rose by 18.2% to 170,683 tonnes from 144,420 tonnes in May 2009.
Consumption by the country's 10 main utilities surged by 279.5% to 22,025
tonnes, whereas use by wholesalers and other consumers increased 7.2% to
148,658 tonnes, according to the Japan Electric Association. Power producers
increased their consumption of biomass at units co-fired by coal and biomass,
although they reduced their thermal power generation in May 2010 amid higher
output from nuclear and hydroelectric power plants.

Japan's
steam coal consumption in May 2010 fell by 4.3% to 4.8 million tonnes from a
year earlier, and thermal power generation was down by 9.7% to 35.9 TWh during
the period.

The
higher demand for biomass in May helped lift the product's total consumption
for the first five months of 2010 to 821,886 tonnes, up 17.6% from 698,731
tonnes for the same period 2009. Of the total, consumption by utilities and
wholesalers rose to 61,072 tonnes and 760,814 tonnes respectively, up 63.4 and
15% against a year earlier.

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