Korean Carbon Units (KCUs), the offsets eligible for use in the nation’s emissions trading scheme, jumped 9.5% on the Korea Exchange (KRX) on Wednesday to close at 15,000 won ($12.24), a record high.
Twenty thousand KCUs traded on the exchange on Wednesday, the first deals that have been reported since Dec. 29.
Market participants said the price jump reflected the higher prices for offsets paid in the more opaque OTC market.
The main supply of offsets in the Korean carbon market comes from CERs that are cancelled from the UN registry and re-issued as Korean Offset Credits (KOCs), which can them be converted into KCUs.
So far, near 6 million CERs have been converted into offsets for use in the Korean ETS.
Meanwhile, Korean Allowance Units (KAUs) closed unchanged and untraded at 12,800 won.
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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