Commodities | Sep 04 2007
By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck
The weekly spot price indicator for uranium, as set by industry consultant TradeTech, has taken another dive to US85/lb, down US$10 from TradeTech’s previous price and US$5/lb below last week’s update by peer Ux Consulting.
According to TradeTech the day to day situation in the uranium spot market remains both unchanged and unfavourable for producers with some 850,000 pounds of uranium oxide concentrate (U3O8, otherwise known as yellowcake) sought by four potential buyers in August. The company estimates there is some 2.7m of the radioactive material available for sale.
The latest spot price decline has, as expected, fueled speculation about how low the price can fall in what has all the hallmarks of a protracted price correction with some professional investors commenting in other media that the game played by US utilities is obviously working, for now.
The price decline has also dismissed previous market speculation that the spot price would find support from buyers near the price level for longer term contracts at US$95/lb. Both the weekly spot prices of TradeTech and Ux Consulting (US$90/lb last week) have now fallen below this price level.
