Uranium production increases since Fukushima, creating an inevitable supply glut:
Country
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
1
Kazakhstan
5279
6637
8521
14020
17803
19451
21317
22451
2
Canada
9862
9476
9000
10173
9783
9145
8999
9331
3
Australia
7593
8611
8430
7982
5900
5983
6991
6350
4
Niger (est)
3434
3153
3032
3243
4198
4351
4667
4518
5
Namibia
3067
2879
4366
4626
4496
3258
4495
4323
6
Russia
3262
3413
3521
3564
3562
2993
2872
3135
7
Uzbekistan (est)
2260
2320
2338
2429
2400
2500
2400
2400
8
USA
1672
1654
1430
1453
1660
1537
1596
1792
9
China (est)
750
712
769
750
827
885
1500
1500
10
Malawi
104
670
846
1101
1132
11
Ukraine
800
846
800
840
850
890
960
922
12
South Africa
534
539
655
563
583
582
465
531
13
India (est)
177
270
271
290
400
400
385
385
14
Brazil
190
299
330
345
148
265
231
231
15
Czech Republic
359
306
263
258
254
229
228
215
16
Romania (est)
90
77
77
75
77
77
90
77
17
Pakistan (est)
45
45
45
50
45
45
45
45
18
Germany
65
41
8
51
50
27
19
France
5
4
5
8
7
6
3
5
20
Total world
39 444
41 282
43 764
50 772
53 671
53 493
58 394
59,370
21
tonnes U3O8
46 516
48 683
51 611
59 875
63 295
63 084
68 864
70,015
22
percentage of world demand*
63%
64%
68%
78%
78%
85%
86%
92%
Even after Fukushima and the resulting decrease in the demand for Uranium, global uranium production has continued to increase. The spike in U prices in 2007 stimulated many companies to start digging, the only problem is that it takes a long time to get a U mine operational. With the wheels already in motion, even with decreasing demand for U staring them in the face, supply from new mines continued to increase. This generated a supply glut. Japan is unlikely to need uranium for many years to come with so much U stockpiled. Germany currently get over 15% of their energy from nuclear but plan to eliminate it from their energy mix entirely by 2022. China will build about 8 nuclear plants a year for the next 5 years but this is a gradual drip on the global demand side, which will be easily catered for by suppliers. Further Cameco's Cigar lake has the capacity to cater to the entire nuclear demands of China to 2020. That's one mine, that hasn't even existed on the supply side until this year, catering for all of China's demand.
Just noticed the spot dropped a couple of dollars and thought I'd shed some light on the fundamental reasons that can really hold back U producers.