Global uranium demand is predicted to rise 48% by 2023, but even now uranium prices are hinting at a major rebound, prompting France's Areva to implore buyers to get ahead of the game with advance orders before 2015.
According to the French uranium giant, after 2015, we could be looking at significantly higher prices for uranium as new nuclear plants come online and Japan reactivates its reactors.
"It would be wise for buyers to make decisions in 2015 at the latest," Bloomberg quoted Olivier Wantz, head of Areva's mining division, as saying last month.
"All new nuclear plants will significantly boost demand in coming years, even taking into account the phasing out of German plants [by 2022] … "We see first a stabilization of prices, with the start of a pick-up as soon as 2014."
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Areva's sales pitch is this: the slump in uranium prices that followed Japan's Fukushima disaster is about to end, and those who don't get on top of the game will be left paying unaffordable prices for uranium. While August saw uranium prices at their lowest in seven years, and while demand is still low, that is about to change, Areva predicts.
And while this is a pitch intended to boost Areva's sales during this down time, it's not alone in its predictions. The World Nuclear Association forecasts a 48% rise in the price of uranium by 2023 due to the fact that new reactors in India, China, Russia, and South Korea will be coming on line, boosting demand for uranium and making up for the losses of parts of the European uranium market. A total of 68 reactors are currently being built around the world.
Areva is the second-largest producer of uranium in the world.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More