Commodities | Aug 11 2015
By Greg Peel
Having remained stuck at US$36.25/lb for three weeks as buyers and sellers stared each other down, two weeks ago industry consultant TradeTech’s weekly uranium spot price indicator plunged to US$35.00/lb as sellers became increasingly anxious over financial commitments.
Last week saw a sudden rebound of US$1.00 to US$36.00/lb. Lower prices triggering a stampede of buyers? No. Interest remains very limited in the uranium market at present for spot delivery. Thinness is leading to volatility, and both the US$1.25 plunge and $1.00 rebound featured low levels of transaction volumes. Five transactions totalling only 475,000/lbs of U3O8 equivalent were concluded in the sport market last week, TradeTech reports.
There are some utilities sniffing around in the spot market at present, TradeTech notes, but no hint of urgency. Most of the current volume represents intermediaries trading amongst each other.
The action, if that’s not overstating it, is currently all in the term markets, which utilities use to secure delivery contracts over multi-year periods. That said, there were no term market transactions reported last week. There is, however, a line of utilities currently seeking offers for a net several million pounds of U3O8 equivalent.
TradeTech’s term price indicators remain unchanged at US$38.25/lb (mid) and US$45.00/lb (long).
The good news from last week was that Kyushu Power Co’s management plans have received regulatory approval, required to operate the company’s Sendia nuclear power units. Kyushu remains on track to restart Sendai units one and two this month, for the first time since 2011.
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