Trading Statistics for May 2009

The total volume of maritime freight derivatives deals was up 19 % on the previous month, to 36 861 lots, with the overall trade value surging 62 % to USD 718 million. The dry bulk sector showed particularly good growth, with the number of transactions up 85 % on the previous month and up 27 % year-on-year. The number of energy transactions meanwhile was up 1 % on the same month last year, to 25 064. Overall energy trading volume, at 993 TWh, was down 3 % on May 2008.

“We are delighted to see the bulk market continue to recover. The trade value of dry bulk transactions has more than doubled from April and the statistics in general on freight futures show a clear upward trend since the end of last year”, says Herman W. Michelet, Chief Executive of Imarex. “The open interest on tanker futures has increased significantly - to a new record, and the performance of our energy business remains rock solid. Things are certainly moving in the right direction.”

Energy Contracts
The volume of energy traded was 993 TWh – while this is down 3 % on last May, it means that the average monthly volume so far this year is up 10 % on the average monthly volume in 2008. The number of energy transactions concluded was 25 064, up 1 % on May.

Tanker and Dry Bulk Derivatives
The number of dry bulk futures transactions was up 27 % from the same period in 2008. Dry bulk freight rates kept increasing through May 2009. The dry bulk freight rates can be illustrated by the Baltic Exchange Dry Index for spot rates, which was 1 786 at the end of April and 3 494 at the end of May 2009. The trade value of tanker futures meanwhile rose 7 % month-on-month – to USD 250 million, although tanker futures volume was down 13 % from April 2009, at 16 458 lots. The number of freight options transactions was 72, up 41 % from May 2008 and up 7 % month-on-month.

Freight Open Interest
At the end of the reporting month, open interest for dry bulk was 29 269 as open interest for tanker futures hit a new high of 42 861 lots (long only positions). Open interest for freight options was 26 486 lots. The open interest is the total number of lots which remain to be liquidated by either close-out trades or delivery at NOS Clearing. NOS Clearing counts only long positions. Other clearing houses often count both long and short positions into the open interest.

For more information, please contact:

• Herman W. Michelet, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +47 2389 4223, hm@imarex.com
• Arild Jæger, Chief Financial Officer Tel: +47 2389 4211, arj@imarex.com

Click here for a full PDF report with charts.

A downloadable excel spreadsheet with trade statistics and financials is available here.