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EUA volume on ICE down 26% in December

The London-based ICE Futures Europe traded around 427.9 million EU emission allowances (EUAs) in December, a fall of 26% month-on-month.

Lower trading volume was due to closing positions before the end of the year and the holiday break with many players absent from the market in the last week of December.

The EUA futures contract for December 2011 delivery expired on December 19, closing at € 6.98, down € 1.37 (16.4%) compared to the last trading day of November.

The EUA contract dropped to € 6.30 on December 14, an all-time low, on worries about over-supply amid the euro-zone debt crisis and slower growth in the EU.

In the Certified Emission Reduction (CER) futures market, around 139.7 million tonnes of CO2 were traded in December, a fall of 12% month-on-month.

The CER futures contract for December 2011 delivery closed at € 4.58 on the day of its expiry, down € 10.04 (18.5%) compared to the last trading day of November.

The Emission Reduction Units (ERU) market saw around 11.4 million tonnes of CO2 trade last month, compared with around 14.9 million in November, a record high.

Trading volume in EUA options contracts was also lower in December with around 70.7 million tonnes of CO2 dealt compared to around 90.1 million tonnes in November.

In the CER options market, a total of 7.3 million tonnes of CO2 were traded compared to 9 million tonnes in November.

Meanwhile, no transactions were reported in the ERU options market, the same as in November.

The EUA and CER spot markets were closed in December after the thefts of allowances from the national registries in January 2011.

Source: ICE Futures Europe