Vattenfall, Total trade EEX wood pellet futures

The first trade in financially settled industrial wood pellet futures on German exchange EEX's platform has taken place, based on Argus wood pellet prices.

The trade was for 10 lots, equivalent to 1,000t, for the February 2018 contract and was brokered by Tradition Green on behalf of Total and Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall.

"We welcome the EEX Wood Pellet Futures initiative, since new financial instruments like these are valuable tools to effectively hedge biomass price and credit risk in this growing sustainable energy market segment," Vattenfall Energy Trading lead trader Christian Joore said.

"We see it as a welcome addition to the biomass market and an enhancement of liquidity in the market," Total said.

EEX launched its wood pellet futures contract in September last year. The contract will settle against the Argus cif Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) wood pellet index. Tradeable maturities are for 36 consecutive months.