The spot price of uranium was around $36.50/lb Tuesday, up $1.75 from the same day last week, as a spike in demand and reduced supplies acted in tandem to boost the material's price to its highest level since July 2013, according to price publisher TradeTech.
The daily spot price, which had moved up by $1 to $33/lb from early to mid-September, rose by more than 10% September 15-18, from $33/lb to $36.50/lb, holding at this price level through late Monday, according to TradeTech. It reported a $36.50/lb weekly price Friday, up $3 from September 12.
Ux Consulting, which publishes a U3O8 spot price weekly, also reported it at $36.50/lb on Monday, up by $2.50 from September 15. Uranium spot prices have increased by more than 28% since early August's $28.50/lb.
The spot price surge during the week ending Friday was buoyed by a change in market participants' psychology from one in which many believed there was a U3O8 supply surplus to a feeling that there is a "lack of immediate supply," one market source said in an interview.
"Even people who have material are probably holding on to it waiting for prices to get better," the source said. "The expectation until very recently had been that there is so much excess material out there that buying could be done on a just-in-time basis, but this is not the case now," he said, adding that reductions in uranium production announced earlier this year have begun to affect buyers' outlook on availability.
The "spot uranium supply declined with several of the producers that had been routine spot market sellers less active this quarter, due to offtake agreement and previously concluded contracts," TradeTech said in its weekly report Friday for the week ended that day.
"A total of 17 transactions involving approximately 1.8 million pounds U3O8" were concluded for the week through Friday, it said.
Ux's daily Broker Average Price, or BAP, Monday was $36.69/lb, down 6 cents from Friday. The BAP bid-offer spread Monday was $36.25/lb-$37.13/lb, with the bid down by 13 cents/lb and the offer unchanged from Friday. The BAP is based on information from Evolution Markets and Numerco Ltd., according to Ux.
The Platts NuclearFuel range for the week is $34/lb-$39/lb.
