Commodities | Oct 11 2011
By Greg Peel
When we talk of talk of “the uranium spot price”, we talk of the “U3O8 equivalent” price. However, not all traded and consumed “uranium” is in the form of U3O8, with UF6 being another molecular form.
The two forms are not completely interchangeable for users despite both being, in effect, “uranium”. Thus occasionally we will will see a price disconnect between forms. Moreover, there is also a price consideration related to point of delivery which can again imply price discrepancies.
Industry consultant TradeTech notes that last week saw UF6 offered at the US Energy Commission for prices below that of uranium material offered elsewhere. Not everyone wants UF6 nor wants to go to USEC to get it, so a price disconnect appeared. This meant that the spot uranium market, based on U3O8 or equivalent, was quiet last week, the consultant notes. One assumes traders are preferring to let the overhang clear before pitching new prices.
Only three transactions thus occurred last week for a total of 325,000lbs of U3O8 equivalent, but TradeTech's indicative spot price still managed to tick up US50c to US$52.50/lb.
While no transactions occurred last week in the term market, TradeTech notes various requests for supply proposals beginning to emerge.
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