Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) instigated a pandemic that impacted economies, employment, and shipping worldwide. This paper reviews how one international supply chain performed and identifies lessons that may be helpful to improve future resilience. Economic and employment data through November 2020 are used to review the effects of COVID-19 on operations of the bioenergy supply chain in the southeastern United States (SE United States) that utilizes wood fiber to fabricate pellets. Conditions associated with the production of pellets in the SE United States changed with the outbreak of COVID-19. Federal and state government programs and classification of workers in this sector as “essential” during the pandemic helped maintain the woody pellet supply chain and other industries during a period of general shut down in 2020. The availability of personal protective equipment, long-term supply contracts, and established safety cultures are among the factors that enhance supply chain resilience while limited availability of skilled workers, inadequate stakeholder engagement, and dependence on external policies are among factors that reduce resilience. The analysis concludes with recommendations for the SE pellet supply chain, and other biomass supply chains, to improve their resilience to future disturbances. When best practices are implemented, SE United States biomass offers opportunities to contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery while incentivizing better forest resource management.
Highlights
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and by the middle of January 2020 was detected in the United States
The methods to collect information are described, and background is presented on production of woody pellets in the SE United States before COVID-19
A review of available literature identified no peer-reviewed papers addressing the resilience of the SE pellet supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and by the middle of January 2020 was detected in the United States. SE United States pellet mills are typically located in areas with access to large volumes of standing timber with relatively low value (i.e., low stumpage price) or areas where other forest industries generate large volumes of sawdust and other woody residues that can serve as feedstock to the pellet mills (Dale et al, 2017; Kline et al, 2021). The closure of dozens of paper mills in the region over the past 25 years combined with timber inventory volumes growing faster than demand, has contributed to low stumpage price and economically stranded timber stands (Hodges et al, 2012; Brandeis and Guo, 2016; USDA, 2020), which support the SE pellet supply chain
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