Commodities | Jun 14 2011
By Greg Peel
Last week saw the annual World Nuclear Fuel Conference held in Seville which distracted the usual market suspects and ensured a mere 150,000 pounds of U308 equivalent was traded in the spot uranium market, industry consultant TradeTech notes. However the lack of activity did not ensure a flat price.
Last week German chancellor Angela Merkel received backing from her cabinet for the nuclear phase-out plan agreed upon by the chancellor and state premiers the week before. Nuclear power currently provides 25% of German power. Uranium stock investors looking for a hedge are no doubt considering increasing their exposure to alternative energy companies given Merkel's plan includes a doubling of alternative energy capacity in Germany to 35% of all power needs, over time.
Japan's reactors are also now to be shut down for maintenance which has some in the market concerned they may never come on line again. However, the rest of the market finds this suggestion very unlikely and news reports are conflicting, TradeTech notes.
Either way, there just weren't any buyers rushing to stick their hands up last week, either because of uncertainty of global nuclear demand or because the buyers were all in Spain, away from their desks. The two transactions that did occur were struck at lower prices leading TradeTech to reduce its weekly uranium spot price indicator by US$2.00 to US$54.50/lb. The consultant does however note a utility entered the market last week requesting 550,000lbs for July delivery.
TradeTech's term price indicators remain unchanged at US$60/lb medium and US$68/lb long.
