New records achieved in all major asset classes
In 2021, EEX Group continued to expand its position in the global commodity exchange space, across all time zones, Europe, Asia and North America, reporting significant increases in its power, natural gas, environmentals and dry freight markets.
Peter Reitz, CEO of EEX comments: “In this dynamic market environment, we have continued to deliver a stable market infrastructure as well as reliable clearing operations to our trading community, while building secure, successful and sustainable markets worldwide. Providing stability and certainty in uncertain times is why exchanges and clearing houses were created. They represent a key component of well-functioning markets.”
Power Markets
In 2021, EEX Group increased its global power trading volume by 5% to 7,405.7 TWh, confirming its position as number one exchange group in power trading worldwide for the fifth year running.
- In Europe, the Power Spot markets recorded a volume of 629.5 TWh (2020: 621.6 TWh) with stable Day-Ahead volumes and an 11% increase in Intraday markets, underlining the importance of the intraday segment for short-term hedging.
- Trading volume in European Power Derivatives totalled 4,568.0 TWh, declining by 4% as against 2020. Among EEX’s largest markets, German Power Futures increased to 3,097.6 TWh while Spanish Power remained stable at 189.4 TWh. Throughout the year, EEX won market shares against the OTC market, specifically in the German (51% compared to 44% in 2020) and French Power markets (63% compared to 54% in 2020).
- US Power Derivatives reported a new annual record volume of 2,201.6 TWh, up 28% compared to last year (2020: 1,718.8 TWh). Nodal Exchange, which operates the US power markets, continued to be the market leader in North American power futures, holding the majority share of open interest with a record of 1,161 TWh at year end.
- Japanese Power Derivatives volume reached a total of 6,632.7 GWh in its first full year of trading (May – December 2020: 587.2 GWh). EEX further established its leading position in the Japanese Power Derivatives market, confirmed by an 87% market share in cleared power futures volumes. In addition, the overall number of trading participants in Japanese Power Futures doubled in 2021 with significant increases coming from the domestic Japanese players joining the market throughout the year.
Natural Gas Markets
The Group’s global natural gas markets totalled 3,142.1 TWh, up 30% as against 2020 (2,412.4 TWh), mostly driven by the performance of the European gas markets.
- The European Gas Spot markets reached a volume of 1,847.3 TWh, representing a new record as well as a 31% increase compared to 2020. Indeed, EEX reached new trading records across the majority of its spot markets, including the French PEG (+23%), the Austrian CEGH (+44%) and the Dutch TTF (+25%), consolidating its position as Europe’s leading gas spot exchange in Europe.
- Trading Hub Europe (THE), the new common nationwide gas market area in Germany posted double-digit growth in both spot (+37%) and derivatives (+65%) markets.
- The European Gas Derivatives increased by 23% to 1,186.0 TWh with major increases in almost all hubs. EGSI Futures, new Financial Gas Futures, were successfully introduced in summer to complement EEX’s derivatives portfolio.
- US Natural Gas markets, operated by Nodal Exchange, more than tripled in 2021, reaching a volume of 108.8 TWh (2020: 34.1 TWh).
Environmental Markets
EEX Group’s Environmental markets posted increases during 2021, both in Europe and in North America.
- The European Environmental markets increased by 26% to 1,660.4 million tonnes of CO2 (2020: 1,318.4 million tonnes of CO2), with both the Spot (+29%) and Derivatives (+22%) market reporting a double-digit growth.
- In October, EEX started the sales of national emission certificates in the German national emissions trading system (nEHS). Until the end of 2021, a total of 287 million nEHS certificates were sold on EEX.
- The North American Environmental markets continued their positive development and increased by 125% to 248,944 contracts. Nodal Exchange together with IncubEX further increased their portfolio which is already the world’s largest set of environmental contracts.
- As part of its commitment to develop emissions trading systems worldwide, EEX implemented and successfully operated emissions auctions in New Zealand since March 2021, with its partner exchange New Zealand Exchange. In 2021, 26 million NZUs have been auctioned.
Freight Markets
EEX Group’s Dry Bulk Freight business recorded its most successful year to date, breaking the 1 million lots threshold for the first time and achieving a new all-time high of 1,009,017 lots.
- This significant growth was mainly driven by Freight Futures which grew by 48% to 890,242 lots (2020: 601,503 lots). This new milestone represents 5 years of organic and inorganic growth, further confirming EEX Group’s position as a major force in global freight trading.
- In addition to significant volume increases in 2021, EEX Group also continued to champion the move for further decarbonisation in the shipping industry through the launch of the Zero Carbon Freight Index (ZCFI) which enables players to see, for the first time, how the cost of carbon emissions could affect freight prices in real terms.
Agricultural markets
The trading volume in agricultural products amounted to 46,290 contracts, declining by 6% compared to 2020 (49,452 contracts).
- While trading in European Processing Potato Futures declined to 18,841 contracts (-33%), the volume in Dairy Derivatives increased by 28% to 27,449 contracts, confirming EEX’s position as leading Dairy Futures exchange.
EEX CEO Peter Reitz comments: “The achievements we made throughout 2021 are a result of the trust placed in us from our trading community. Armed with this support, we continued to diversify our portfolio with a number of initiatives which enable the energy transition such as the introduction of 10 Year Power Futures, facilitating long term renewables investment and the Zero Carbon Freight Index which helps freight players to better assess the cost of carbon emissions. As one of the world’s leading commodity exchanges, EEX Group is fully committed to proactively shaping and supporting the industry’s journey as it transitions to a more sustainable future.”
EEX Group builds secure, successful and sustainable commodity markets worldwide – together with its customers. The group offers trading in power, natural gas, environmental products, freight and agriculturals as well as subsequent clearing and registry services, connecting a network of more than 800 trading participants. EEX Group consists of European Energy Exchange (EEX), EPEX SPOT, EEX Asia, Power Exchange Central Europe (PXE) and Nodal Exchange as well as the registry provider Grexel Systems and software companies KB Tech and Lacima. Clearing is provided by EEX Group’s clearing houses European Commodity Clearing (ECC) and Nodal Clear. EEX Group is part of Deutsche Börse Group. More information: www.eex-group.com
Contact:
EEX Public Relations
T +49 341 2156-216 I +33 1 73 03 76 52
presse@eex.com