Uranium stocks and the Global X Uranium ETF (NYSEArca: URA), which tracks uranium miners, have been in an almost five-year slump since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan and that slump is continuing in 2016 as URA is off more than 8%.
That despite URA and uranium heading into 2016 with some bullish forecasts. Last year, URA and its components got a modest lift after the Kogoshima District Court rejected a legal bid to block the reopening of the Sendai nuclear power station due to safety concerns on Wednesday, reports Kentaro Hamada for Reuters.
The Sendai plant will be the first to reopen since Japanese nuclear stations were shutdown in response to the devastating earthquake and subsequent disaster in Fukushima. The reactors could begin operation as early as June. Even with the struggles to start 2016, there is still a bullish tone surrounding uranium stocks and URA.
“Investors in uranium producers and explorers could be in for a banner year of growth and opportunity, making the nuclear fuel an outlier compared to other mined commodities whose prices continue to stagnate,” reports Andrew Topf for OilPrice.com. “Those with positions in companies like Cameco, Paladin Energy and Uranium Energy Corp could finally see their patience rewarded after many quarters of lost market capitalization due to weak uranium prices.”
In response to the fallout, anti-nuclear activists have aggressively petitioned courts to block restarting the plants. Nevertheless, the court’s response may reflect more favorable opinions in some areas. [Good News for the Uranium ETF]
With nuclear energy industry looking brighter, uranium demand is expected to rise. According to the World Nuclear Association, the number of new nuclear plants due to go online this year and in the next three years is expected to total around 40, and more are planned in the years ahead, mostly in Asia, writes Lawrence Williams for Mineweb.
“But by far, the biggest reason to be bullish about uranium on the demand side has to do with China. In its five-year plan covering 2016 to 2020, China plans to spend $1 trillion to expand its atomic capacity to 250 gigawatts, which would account for 25 percent of the world’s nuclear power. To accomplish its goal, the country is investing $78 billion to construct seven new reactors a year for the next five years. By 2030 China plans to have 110 reactors in operation; it currently has 27,” according to OilPrice.com.
Global X Uranium ETF
