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ICE thermal coal futures volumes reach six-month high in September

London (Platts)--4Oct2011/1030 am EDT/1430 GMT

Overall volumes of European, South African and Australian thermal coal futures cleared through the IntercontinentalExchange in September rose 20% on-month to 112 million mt, the highest monthly traded volume since March, online trading platform globalCOAL said Tuesday.

The rise was seen mainly in the Rotterdam and Richards Bay markets, which traded 78.8 million mt and 25.4 million mt, up 20% and 37% on-month respectively.

The jump in volume came during an increase in volatility, with daily settlement prices for the prompt-month Rotterdam contract losing $6.90/mt in the course of September. The Richards Bay front-month contract lost $6.50/mt in the 30 days to September 30*.

Trading of globalCOAL Newcastle contracts slipped 13% on the month to 7.7 million mt during September.

All three coal futures contracts had total open interest positions equivalent to 132.8 million mt at the end of September, a record high.

Cleared contracts are understood to represent over 50% of the overall coal derivatives market. According to statistics from the London Energy Brokers Association, 127.2 million mt of coal derivatives traded in August, of which 76.7 million mt were cleared contracts.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Coal/8417922

* remember that the USD has appreciated against the ZAR by 17% in the last month, and almost 13% against the AUD, whereas a USD6.50 drop in RB prices is only a 5.55% decrease from a previous base of USD117

charts: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDZAR=X&t=3m&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=

http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=AUD

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=CLSPSARB:IND