Since the early 2010s, the production of industrial wood pellet for overseas exports has grown considerably in the Southern United States (U.S.). In order to meet the increasing demand for woody biomass feedstock, the wood pellet mills in the U.S. South consume roundwood pulpwood along with low-valued logging residues and sawmill wood wastes. By estimating empirical roundwood pulpwood market models based on the bi-monthly time-series data, this study estimates the impacts of wood pellet production, precipitation, and the COVID-19 Pandemic on the hardwood and softwood pulpwood stumpage prices in 12 southeastern Atlantic coastal micro-markets. Results suggest that the wood pellet industry has led to an increase in pine pulpwood prices, but no statistically significant impact is found on the hardwood pulpwood prices. Rainfall is found to be a positive determinant of the roundwood pulpwood prices. Furthermore, since March 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic is estimated to lead about 6% decline in both pine and hardwood pulpwood prices. This study provides empirical evidence and additional insights on the timber market dynamics and how small roundwood markets have reacted to the additional wood demand from a growing bioenergy industry in the U.S. South.

自 2010 年代初以来，美国南部（US）用于海外出口的工业木屑颗粒的生产大幅增长。为了满足对木质生物质原料不断增长的需求，美国南部的木屑颗粒厂消耗原木浆材以及低价值的伐木残留物和锯木厂木材废料。通过基于双月时间序列数据估计经验圆木浆材市场模型，本研究估计了木屑颗粒生产、降水和 COVID-19 大流行对 12 个大西洋东南部沿海微型木材和针叶木浆材立木价格的影响。 -市场。结果表明，木屑颗粒行业导致松木浆材价格上涨，但未发现对阔叶木浆材价格的统计显着影响。降雨量被认为是原木浆材价格的积极决定因素。此外，自 2020 年 3 月以来，估计 COVID-19 大流行导致松木和阔叶木浆材价格下跌约 6%。这项研究提供了关于木材市场动态以及小型原木市场如何对美国南部不断增长的生物能源行业的额外木材需求做出反应的经验证据和其他见解。