Commodities | Dec 14 2010
By Greg Peel
A bit of urgency entered the spot uranium market last week as a group of sellers from both the producer and speculator stables looked to offload U3O8 before year-end. Eight transactions saw a total of just over one millions pounds change hands but as industry consultant TradeTech reports, the buyers were undeterred.
By week's end the spot price was pushing higher once more, with TradeTech's indicative price up US25c for the week to US$60.50/lb. The mid and long term prices remain at US$62 and US$65 respectively.
Last week's volume brought the year-to-date total to 41.6m pounds of U3O8 equivalent. With three weeks to go, that's already a record. It is testament to the bubble-and-bust mirage that was 2007 that the previous record was not set in this tumultuous year but all the way back in 1990, when 40.6m pounds changed hands.
One assumes 1990 represents the last time there was a burst of reactor building activity, with Europe in the fore back then. We now have another burst – this time out of Asia most specifically – leading to increased demand which is now “real” rather than speculative as was the case in 2006-07.
