Uranium oxide concentrate prices dropped 6 percent last week to $68.50 per pound.
News agencies Monday quoted TradeTech in indicating a “non-traditional seller” trying to unload 800,000 pounds of the material drove down the price.
“A lack of clarity and speculation about the true motivation for the sale provided momentum to the price decline,” the Denver-based pricing service is reported as saying.
Last week’s trading included seven transactions amounting to 700,000 pounds of uranium, according to TradeTech, and a non-U.S. producer entered the market looking to sell 300,000 pounds.
Prior to recent price declines, uranium prices rose every week in January. While just over half their 2007 highs, uranium prices have risen since the middle of last year as China increases its use of nuclear power, according a Bloomberg report.