Uranium futures market to trade from May

18 April 2007

Uranium futures will be tradable for the first time from 7 May this year on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). The exchange has partnered with Ux Consulting to provide marketing and education for financially-settled contracts which would provide price benchmarking.

A joint statement by the two parties said the initiative would provide the industry with a transparent 'price discovery mechanism'. Nymex chair Richard Schaeffer said the "innovative" uranium trading would act as a "complement to both our [Nymex's] energy and metals product offerings." The uranium futures would be traded on Nymex's electronic trading platforms, which the company said offers trading and clearing "almost 24 hours each day."

The trading opportunities would be introduced on 6 May for trading on 7 May. Nymex said: "The new contract will be U3O8... and its contract code will be UX. The contract will be listed for 36 consecutive months. It will be 250 lb in size with a minimum price fluctuation of $0.05 per pound. The contract will be settled on the spot month-end U3O8 price published by Ux Consulting."

Ux Consulting President Jeff Combs added that the uranium market would benefit from additional price transparency, especially in terms of forward prices.

The announcement comes just one week after an outstanding trade of uranium reached a record $113 per pound, the price leaping $18 per pound since the previous recorded 'best competitive offer'.

The uranium market has been noted to be 'lumpy', being characterised by few sellers and few buyers - who almost always engage in long-term contracts. It has been further affected for many years by political factors such as the secondary supply from the downblending of high-enriched uranium from weapons stocks. Once any speculator in the world may purchase cash-settled futures on U3O8, the market will be open to a large influx of new money.

Further information

Nymex
Ux Consulting

WNN: Uranium price reaches record $113/lb