A company called German Pellets has filed for insolvency. As recently as 2013, it was the largest pellet producer in the world. Low oil prices were given as one reason for this development, but that’s not all. Craig Morris reports. Recently, I wrote about how the drop in oil prices in 2015 hurt sales of pellet-fired heaters in Germany. Fortunately, Germany adopted severe restrictions on oil-fired heating systems on January 1, which should help renewable heat this year. But it all comes too late for the company German Pellets. A few weeks ago, the first news items appeared about the company having trouble with a bond. It had offered investors a surprisingly high eight percent return annually (report in German). However, those bonds had already lost two thirds of their value by mid-January. By the beginning of February, the first timber suppliers had publicly announced the discontinuation of shipments to German Pellets, which had failed to pay bills for weeks. On February 9, the company announced it would not be able to cover the bonds … Continue reading Low oil prices hit German pellet giant