EUROPE GAS-Prices fall in line with other markets as U.S. tariffs kick in

April 9 (Reuters) - Dutch and British gas prices fell Wednesday morning in line with wider equity and commodities market sell-offs, as U.S. reciprocal" tariffs, which have raised fears of recession, took effect.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract TRNLTTFMc1 was down 1.07 euros to 34.55 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) or $11.11/mmBtu by 0832 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The contract hit 33.65 euros/MWh on Monday, its lowest level since September 2024.

The Dutch June contract TRNLTTFMc2 was down 1.20 euros at 34.65 euros/MWh.

The British day-ahead contract TRGBNBBD1 was down 2.00 pence at 85.20 p/therm.

President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of countries took effect on Wednesday, including massive 104% duties on Chinese goods, deepening his global trade war and spurring more widespread selling across financial markets.

Macroeconomic concerns over a recession and impact on global gas demand were the key drivers now, a trader said.

Tariffs provide some downside risk to European gas demand but also to Asian demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), analysts at ING said in a market note.

"This risk is fairly difficult to quantify at the moment," they added.

While China is likely to refuse U.S. energy amid the tariff war, other Asian buyers as well as Europe could use promises to buy more U.S. LNG as a bargaining chip to lower their trade surplus with the U.S.

Meanwhile, Europe's need to refill gas storages over the summer to 90% full ahead of next winter provided some fundamental support, ING added.

European Union countries are simultaneously seeking extra flexibility on gas storage refilling, allowing a deviation of up to 10 percentage points from the target, to prevent the refilling need from pushing prices unnecessarily high.

Europe's gas storage sites bottomed out at 33.6% full at the end of this winter, and were last seen at 35% full, Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data showed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 1.51 euros at 60.55 euros a metric ton.