No plans for new ethanol contract: ICE chairman

BOCA RATON, Fla., March 14 (Reuters) - Uncertainty about U.S. energy policy makes a potential corn-based ethanol futures contract unlikely for now, the top executive of InterContinentalExchange (ICE.N) said on Friday.

Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman and CEO of the Atlanta-based exchange, noted that the sugar-based ethanol contract at ICE's ICE Futures U.S. unit and corn-based ethanol trading at CME Group's CME.N Chicago Board of Trade have not thrived.

"The biggest issue we're seeing is that people don't know what the government subsidy plans will be," Sprecher said at the Futures Industry Association meeting in Boca Raton, Florida.

"Until we have a consistent energy policy, it's hard to see a contract doing well," Sprecher said.

U.S. corn-based ethanol production has soared in recent years, with processing plants springing up across the heartland. But existing futures products have not caught on.

Sprecher said the lack of clarity on policy made traders unwilling to take positions on the long side of the market.

"Until we have a consistent energy policy, it's hard to see a contract doing well," he said, and contrasted ethanol with carbon, where a more defined derivatives business is developing.

"People see (carbon) as a real business opportunity," Sprecher said.

On Friday, the Montreal Climate Exchange (MCex), a joint venture of the Montreal Exchange and the Chicago Climate Exchange, said it plans to launch trading on futures contracts on Canadian CO2-equivalent units on May 30, pending regulatory approval.

"The demand for environmental derivatives continues to growth worldwide," said Richard Sandor, chairman of CCX, which offers trading in greenhouse gas emissions allowances. (Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Christian Wiessner)