Spot Uranium Market Subdued

The spot uranium price has decreased slightly over the past few weeks. It remains at $89/lb, where it has been since December 31,2007. Chart courtesy of TradeTech, www.uranium.info

On November 20th, we reported the spot uranium market may have some year-end lethargy.  While the beginning of December proved slow, the week ending on December 21st was not. Five spot uranium transactions took place during that week.

Overall, in the spot uranium market in November, there were nine spot transactions comprising over 1.2 million pounds U3O8 equivalent. The month-end spot indicator price was at $93/lb U3O8.

December saw a total of eight transactions, five of which were completed in the aforementioned week, involving over one million pounds U3O8 equivalent concluded during the month. Nuclear Market Review (NMR) Editor Treva Klingbiel reported, "A wide range of buyers participated, including utilities, producers, traders, and speculators. At month-end, at least three sellers remained in the market actively seeking to place approximately 800 thousand pounds U3O8 equivalent. However, with the onset of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, sellers were finding it difficult to generate interest from buyers as market activity ground to a halt." Sellers were willing to negotiate on price to move material, which generated sales below spot price and caused the indicator to fall during December, resting at $89/lb U3O8 equivalent at month and year end.

More recently, Friday’s issue of Nuclear Market Review (NMR) listed its spot price indicator at $89 per pound U3O8, unchanged since December 31, 2007.  No transactions were reported during the quiet first week of 2008. However, in the January 11th issue of the NMR, there is one reported transaction in the spot market for 150,000 lbs U3O8 equivalent.

According to NMR Editor Gene Clark, "A few sellers continue to seek buyers, but issues such as form, location, origin, and title
make some of this material less fungible," while "demand remains highly discretionary with no 'have to' buyers currently
active." Yet, there is currently demand for 600,000 lbs of U3O8 in the spot market. In addition, a non-US seller is currently soliciting bids for approximately 600,000 lbs U3O8 equivalent, with bids due January 25.

After the exhilirating climb experienced in the uranium market, the recent stagnation may seem rather blasé. However, it can always be interesting to review the past and see how much the market has evolved, as evidenced below.