Commodities | Aug 23 2011
By Greg Peel
Interest in the spot uranium market has been quietly drying up week by week confirming earlier feedback provided by industry consultant TradeTech. Last week's trade was also impacted by northern hemisphere summer holidays but TradeTech notes ongoing uncertainty from both buyers and sellers on just where the global nuclear energy industry is heading from here.
The sellers are nevertheless proving a little more keen to get deals away, so last week's minimal activity of three transactions totalling 300,000lbs of U3O8 equivalent saw TradeTech's sport price indicator fall US35c to US$49.90/lb.
It is the first time spot uranium has traded under the US$50/lb mark since briefly breaching that level in March following the plunge from around the US$70 level in the initial response to Fukushima. At that time buying support was unearthed as utilities, producers with production shortfalls and even hedge funds moved in to secure what was considered cheap material. A subsequent rethink of nuclear energy globally, the reality of large uranium inventories now superfluous in Japan, and moves by the US to enrich tailings stockpiles for sale have all conspired to diminish demand in the spot market and increase uncertainty generally on both sides of the price spread.
It remains to be seen whether a breach of the US$50/lb level can again inspire buying interest, remembering that spot uranium traded down into the low forties post the 2007 spot price bubble-and-bust.
There were no new transactions in the term market last week and TradeTech's term price indicators remain at US$58/lb (medium) and US$68/lb (long).
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