Uranium

A Japanese court has at the very least held up the restart of the country’s nuclear reactors, on which the global uranium market hinges.

A pause in the relentless slide in the spot uranium price has proven merely a one week affair, as further excess US government inventories are set to be offloaded onto the market.

After sixteen weeks of consecutive weekly falls, the price of spot uranium was unchanged last week amidst low activity.

Heightened tensions over Russia’s involvement in Ukraine underpins the outlook for crude, nickel and gold. Uranium remains in the doldrums while coal is beset by supply.

The uranium spot price is now below the level considered necessary to support primary production, while term contract prices have also fallen due to subdued buying interest.

Disinterest from buyers and urgency from sellers means the uranium spot price continues to slide to historically low levels.

Irrespective of a supposedly more positive picture emerging, spot uranium continues to find no buying support.

With Japan set for its first reactor restarts and sanctions against Russia threatening to restrict enriched supply, the spot uranium price should be rising. But it continues to fall.

Concern over potential global enriched uranium supply constraints from Russia has hurried up utility demand but the current supply overhang means ongoing price weakness.

The spot uranium price continued to drift lower last week as sellers bowed further to a lack of urgency from buyers.