EU Carbon Permits Post Second Weekly Drop Ahead of Supply Boost

European Union carbon permits dropped a second week before a supply increase starting Jan. 7.

EU contracts for December were unchanged at 6.40 euros ($8.35) a metric ton on London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange at 4 p.m., leaving the weekly drop at 4.6 percent. Certified Emission Reductions for December rose 5.1 percent for the week to 41 euro cents a ton.

The European Energy Exchange AG will sell 3.5 million metric tons of allowances on behalf of EU nations on Jan. 7 and 14.6 million tons for all of next week, according to the auction calendar published on its website.

EU carbon has lost 11 percent in the year to today as flagging economic growth sapped demand and supply of UN offsets surged. The European Commission in November proposed to temporarily delay the sale of 900 million metric tons of carbon allowances in the three years through 2015 to fix the glut that’s caused permits to fall.

Nations may debate the merits of the EU plan for much of this year and prices may trade from 5 euros to 7 euros a ton, Per Lekander, a UBS AG analyst in Paris, said today by phone. The plan may be abandoned next year and prices may fall to 3 euros, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lars Paulsson at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net