China : weekly snapshot

The carbon trading schemes in China were mainly dominated by slack demand after the expiration of the compliance period. Trading volumes and average trade prices in the seven ETS remained stable or fluctuated downward in low levels. The spotlight of the week was that the Guangdong Provincial Development & Reform Commission imposed fines on two enterprises failing to fulfill their obligations of the 2013 compliance period on 7 August. Just on that day, the trading volume at Guangzhou exchange rose significantly.

Shenzhen ETS

After entering the 2014 compliance period, the trading volume in Shenzhen market slightly went up this week. And, price declines slowed down. The total trade amount of this week reached 2,740 tonnes, with the average price at yuan (CNY) 58.2/tonne.

Shanghai ETS

As Shanghai ETS has just terminated last year’s compliance period, no transactions were seen during this week.

Tianjin ETS

Prices in the Tianjin market were stable, with the daily trading volume and average price at 350 tonnes and CNY22.6/tonne, respectively. Most market participants rode the fence, awaiting the release of Tianjin ETS quota allocation plan for 2014 in next week.

Beijing ETS

The Beijing market only recorded one transaction on Thursday, with no transactions seen in other days of the week.

Guangdong ETS

After being sluggish from Monday to Wednesday, the trading volume shoot up to 11,032 tonnes on Thursday due to the Guangdong provincial government’s penalty on two enterprises failing to fulfill their obligations during 2013 compliance period. The penalty included over CNY50,000 of fines on each and quota cuts for the next year. This news provided a warning to enterprises faced with heavy pressures in fulfilling their obligations for the next year such as building material companies and electric companies.

Hubei ETS

The trading volume shrank by 33.2% to 102,080 tonnes and the total trade turnover declined by 36.7% to CNY227,121.58 this week. The trading volume fell by 56.6% during the past two weeks, which indicated the end of the short-term prosperity after introducing institutional and individual investors at the beginning. In addition, new policies were in great need to bring vigor to the market again.

Chongqing ETS

The Chongqing market still recorded no transactions in the past week as the expiration date is over 10 months away. Kun Yang