Uranium Spot market trading volume rises to record on rising demand from Asia

The volume of uranium sold in the spot market, used by companies to have material delivered within a year and investors to speculate on the price of fuel reached a record this year in Asian demand.

Some 41.6 million pounds of uranium oxide concentrate sold in the market for the week ending December 10, 1990 breaking a previous record of 40.6 million pounds, a Denver-based TradeTech service prices LLC said in a report of 10 December. The spot price rose 25 cents to 60.50 dollars and the new demand has emerged from a utility outside the United States, TradeTech said.

The uranium, processed into fuel for nuclear power plants, recovered to the highest in more than two years as a public service Asia safe material for the next decade, China has accumulated reserves, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd. Asia can operate 300 reactors nuclear in 2030, compared to 115 units today, inspection and certification agency Lloyd's Register Group's said last week.

"Currently, the supply of land is extremely thin with most vendors now firmly attached to its offer price and the face of growing demand in the first quarter of 2011," TradeTech said.

This year's record volume in the spot market account for the third consecutive year of growth. About 10 million pounds of uranium had been sold in spot transactions in 2007, the lowest in at least 12 years, according to TradeTech data. A million pounds of uranium equal about 385 tons of radioactive material.

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Co. agreed last month on the long-term supply Kazatomprom and Cameco Corp., the two largest uranium mining companies. China imports this year equal about 20 percent to 25 percent of global consumption, according to Macquarie Bank.

Chinese purchases of Kazakhstan, the largest supplier in the world of matter, Uzbekistan, and Namibia have taken more than six million pounds out of the spot market, said analyst Max Layton at Macquarie Bank on November 29.