Uranium: A lackluster year

Industry participants may well consider 1994 to have been a non-event. Prices ended almost where they began, production continued to dwindle and, while the political arena produced a series of decisions, none seemed to have an immediate impact upon the industry. World uranium production amounted to 82.4M lb U3O8 in 1994, down 2.6% from 1993 and the lowest since 1957. Consumption was off 1.8%, at 146.5M lb U3O8 Two-tiered pricing continued with material from the various republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) selling in a range of $7.00-7.21/lb U3O8, a substantial discount to the $9.00-9.60 commanded by material of other origins. The difference is due to market restrictions on CIS material in the United States and Europe