Uranium Will Have 2010 Surplus on Increased Output, Group Says

The uranium market will have a surplus next year for the first time in at least three years as Kazatomprom and other producers increase output faster than demand rises for the nuclear fuel, the World Nuclear Association said.

Supplies will exceed consumption by 2,914 metric tons, compared with deficits of 2,029 tons in 2009 and 3,012 tons last year, the London-based association of producers and utilities said in a report today. Mined output will rise 13 percent in 2010, compared with a 3 percent increase in demand from nuclear utilities, according to the report.
“The uranium market should be adequately supplied in the period to 2020,” Steve Kidd, director of strategy and research at the association, wrote in the report.

Uranium prices have climbed more than sixfold since the start of the decade, spurring miners to boost output.

The Kazakh producer, Kazatomprom, which aims to overtake Canada as the world’s largest producer this year, boosted output by 57 percent in the first half of this year, the company said on Aug. 12. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp., the world’s second-biggest supplier, plans to boost output by 18 percent to 20.1 million pounds this year.

Bloomberg