2016 OCTOBER BALTPOOL ENERGY EXCHANGE: TRADE OVERVIEW

After the record activity in September, when the turnover of the BALTPOOL biomass exchange amounted to EUR 11.3 million, October’s turnover was 72.01% lower and amounted to EUR 3.2 million, despite the nearly 20% higher number of concluded contracts. The decrease in the value of contracts was due to the fact that heat producing companies had purchased the base quantities of biomass for the heating season earlier and were no longer concluding long-term (one-quarter or half-year) contracts.

Auctions at the exchange are dominated by short-term contracts that satisfy the current need for biomass. In October, 433 contracts were concluded, which is a 19.28% increase compared to September (363). As many as 85.4% of the concluded contracts accounted for one-week contracts. The average total value per contract dropped from EUR 31,100 (recorded in September) to EUR 7,300.

The growth in the price of biomass was observed throughout the month: while on October 4 the weighted average price under such contracts at auctions was 130.37 EUR/TOE, on 25 October the price was 142.33 EUR/TOE and was 1.59% higher than the price of woodchips under long-term contracts for the 2016–2017 heating season.