Commodities | Aug 03 2010
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
July has once again opened up a schism between the two industry consultants that set weekly spot price benchmarks for the uranium industry. Following a big jump in Ux Consulting's spot price to US$46/lb last week, peer TradeTech has only responded by lifting its own weekly spot price indicator to US$45.25, still up US$1.75 from the prior week though.
Regardless, TradeTech has observed its spot price has now jumped by US$3.50 over the month of July, marking the largest increase since the US$3.50 jump in October 2009 when the price rose US$3.50 to US$46.50 per pound U3O8.
Prices might still be increasing, but TradeTech also reports overall market activity has slowed down noticeably due to the fact that sellers have stated to withdraw on hopes that higher prices can be achieved at a later stage.
TradeTech also states most demand remains discretionary in the spot market, suggesting we might see a stand-off next week between buyers looking for bargains and sellers hoping to find buyers' interest at increased product prices.
The week ending on Friday saw five transaction being concluded (on TradeTech's observation) but four of these occurred in the early part of the week, notes TradeTech. Total volume for the five deals exceeds 1.6 million pounds of U3O8 equivalent.
For the month, TradeTech registered a total of 22 transactions totaling almost 4.5 million pounds U3O8 equivalent in July.
See also last week's stories:
– Uranium Regains Its Luster, July 27, 2010
– Uranium Regains Its Luster (Vol 2), July 28, 2010
– Don't Fall For Uranium's Head-Fake, July 29. 2010
