Selling Briquettes

[pembswoodrecycling]

Is there much of a market for briquettes now, what sort of prices do they command and is it worth having a machine to make them?

 

Seriously considering getting one soon, but would like to know if there'd be any interest in it.

 

I'm in the South Wales area.

 

Thanks in advance everyone!

[Cookie]

I've been having the same thoughts, I'm thinking that rather than the heavy investment in a descent machine it may be better to out source them to start with from a quality producer i.e an arb member first to test the water? Difference with me is I'm not a sawdust/wood waste producer so would have to find the raw materials first which I think will kill it for me to produce my own without a lot of running around, sawdust is hard to find at the moment round my way.

[renewablejohn]

Unfortunately buying a machine is the cheap easy bit. What you then need is suitable material of the right size and moisture content to process in your new machine. In our case a chipper to get G30 chip and a hammer mill to further reduce the chip to a size for the briquette machine. Add to that a 3 phase generator to run the briquette press and hammer mill. Fortunately my solar kilns produce timber dry enough to briquette. Once you have your briquettes you then need a bagging line and approved weigh scales to keep trading standards happy. Finally you need to sell to people who realise it is a dry product and needs to be stored dry not left outside on pallets.

I only make briquettes to dispose of my reject kindling wood waste and lucky if I can achieve £5 for a 10 kg bag of briquettes. Local competitors are selling at £3.50 for 10 kg but there rubbish compared to mine, thats the sort of competition I am up against.

[pembswoodrecycling]

I agree totally renewablejohn, its alot of capital to outlay, even for a small set up, but processing costs would then be quite low once running. The attraction is earning £350/ton for something I've had for free.

 

What I'm more concerned about is will I be able to find anyone to buy it?

With logs and sticks there has been such little set up cost that it doesn't really matter if I don't sell any at all! - with something more specialised I would need to know that theres a market for it.

[windfall]

I am selling loads of them, I tried loads of them and settled on the one i am stocking now. Kiln dried compressed sawdust briquettes.

 

I buy them from my supplier, stack them down the side of my garage so they are nice a dry and can more than double my money selling them at £5.50 per pack of 12.

 

Delivered 25 packs of them today... which was nice.

[philg]

Bite the bullet buy a machine and give it a go:thumbup: I did and wont ever look back. Theres too many big bully boy setups out there at the moment that think they are the best and are untouchable, but their customer service is absolute sh1t. Produce a good product at a realistic price and keep it local you will kill the sales from the big boys. If you can sorce local sawdust so much the better as you dont need hammer mills etc. Briquettes will become more popular as time goes on because more and more people are supplying crap firewood thinking they'll earn a quick £££ where as the briquette is uniform, clean and dry.

Thanks Phil

[pembswoodrecycling]

What do you charge for your briquettes Phil?

[WFWales]

I agree totally renewablejohn, its alot of capital to outlay, even for a small set up, but processing costs would then be quite low once running. The attraction is earning £350/ton for something I've had for free.

 

What I'm more concerned about is will I be able to find anyone to buy it?

With logs and sticks there has been such little set up cost that it doesn't really matter if I don't sell any at all! - with something more specialised I would need to know that theres a market for it.

 

Talk to these guys - Thomas Joinery - Wood Fuel Supplier - Crymych

[pembswoodrecycling]

Talk to these guys - Thomas Joinery - Wood Fuel Supplier - Crymych

 

I've had contact with them already actually, they've offered me the chance to sell their briquettes for them, it would be a bit cheeky of me to ask them "who do you sell your briquettes to, I want to compete with you?!"

 

I could perhaps do with a chat with you WFWales, I'm only just starting up and the processing is no problem, but my marketing really lets me down, or at least I'm struggling to sell anything at the moment

[WFWales]

I've had contact with them already actually, they've offered me the chance to sell their briquettes for them, it would be a bit cheeky of me to ask them "who do you sell your briquettes to, I want to compete with you?!"

 

I could perhaps do with a chat with you WFWales, I'm only just starting up and the processing is no problem, but my marketing really lets me down, or at least I'm struggling to sell anything at the moment

 

Sure - I thought you might test the market by supplying other producers briquettes, so I TJ might be a starter!

 

Do call anytime - it's good to talk....