Press Release
ICE Coal Futures Set New Monthly Record: gC Newcastle Contract off to Strong Start
LONDON, UK - 5th February 2009
globalCOAL today announced that the ICE gC Newcastle coal Futures traded 4,170 lots in the first full month of trading in January 2009.
With a total of 40,300 ICE coal contracts (equivalent to 40.3 million tonnes of coal) cleared through ICE Clear Europe, January contract volumes surpass the exchange's prior coal portfolio record established in October 2008 by 6,560 lots.
The ICE Rotterdam coal Futures contract remained the top performing product with a total of 24.47 million tonnes, but it was the Richards Bay and Newcastle contracts that made the greatest strides. Richards Bay traded a record 11,660 lots, increasing its share of the ICE coal portfolio to 29%. Newcastle, in its first full month of trading, saw volumes jump to 4,170 lots, representing 10% of ICE's January coal activity.
Eoghan Cunningham, CEO of globalCOAL said: "January 2009 coal futures volumes represent over 4 times the amount traded over the whole of 2007. These results support our positive outlook for the growth of the cleared financial coal market. With a portfolio of financial coal contracts that now spans the world's most important coal centres, ICE is providing coal market participants with unparalleled opportunities for risk management, trading and arbitrage."
ICE Futures Europe's coal Futures offering was expanded on December 5th 2008 with the addition of the gC ICE Newcastle coal Futures contract, launched in partnership with globalCOAL, to its existing Rotterdam and Richards Bay coal contracts.
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