Term prices of uranium for November month-end closed at $51.50 per pound, a decline of $0.25 from the end of October, showing yet again a fading buyer interest as opposed earlier in the month, when spot prices topped $4 per pound.

Quoting data from industry consultant TradeTech, Ninemsn News said that November had a total of 34 transactions of over 5 million pounds of U3O8 total equivalent. However, it was mostly the traders who were buying the commodity rather than the expected end-users. Traders, producers and hedge funds were all present on the sell-side, TradeTech noted.

TradeTech has lowered its forecast pricing for both the medium and long term markets, down $0.50 to $54.50 per pound and down $1 to $62 per pound, respectively.

Prices of uranium, a radioactive heavy metal used as an abundant source of nuclear energy, have tumbled 24 per cent since the March 2011 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan that caused a partial meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.

Data from the World Nuclear Association showed global mined uranium supply reached 53,663 tons in 2010, but is still insufficient to meet global demand. As a result, some utilities have been utilizing recovered fuel from Russian warheads as contained under the HEU agreement.