The Netherlands on Thursday began handing out 46 million EUAs to its heavy industries as part of the country’s 2015 free allocation.

Some 381 Dutch companies are expected to receive their 2015 allowances on their operator holding accounts on Feb. 27, the Dutch Emissions Authority said on its website.

The European Commission said earlier this month that it expects companies to have received their 2015 free EUA allocations by Feb. 28. It added that it would publish a status update on the EU-wide allocations on Mar. 3.

In previous years, market participants had been wary of the potential for the delivery of allocations to weigh on the market as companies confident they had more EUAs than they needed offloaded their surplus.

But industries face tougher caps over the third trading phase (2013-2020) and analysts expect companies to be less willing to sell units over the period.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com