Week at a glance (August 14 – August 18, 2023)
- Activity in China’s national Carbon Emissions Allowance (CEA) market surged to a 2023 weekly total volume high of over 3 million tons. Block trades accounted for 96% of the total volume while open market transaction volume fell below its 2023 average. Prices for open market transactions continued their rapid increase, setting fresh all-time highs for the third week in a row. The weekly closing price for open market transactions jumped another 4% from the previous week to a new all-time high of 72.85 yuan ($10.11) per ton, breaking the 70-yuan mark for the first time. The volume-weighted average price for all of the week’s trades was 57.17 yuan ($7.94) per ton, dragged down by much lower-priced block trades.
- Activity across the nine regional China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER) markets decreased to 126,352 tons after reaching a three-month high during the previous week. Tianjin, after a four-week period of no activity, led the markets for the week, followed by Guangdong and Sichuan. Meaningful CCER price information was available from Guangdong, Sichuan, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai markets. Compared to the fast increase of prices seen on the national CEA market over the past several weeks, CCER prices in the regional markets have been largely trending downward over the same period of time, going from generally having a price premium over their respective CEA counterparts to a mix of premiums and discounts.