Canada Sees Rise in Demand for Uranium, Potash as

Canada Sees Rise in Demand for Uranium, Potash as Ukrainian War Rages On

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected the supply of a number of commodities, with Canada recording an increase in the demand of uranium and potash, according to Jonathan Wilkinson, the country’s minister of Natural Resources.

Uranium is used by most nations in Europe as well as the United States to generate power while potash is a potassium-rich salt that is commonly used as fertilizer. These two commodities have been swept up in the international commodities rally after Ukraine’s invasion by Russia. Buyers are hoping to secure supplies after the trade disruption caused by Ukraine’s invasion. Currently, Canada is one of the primary sources of these two commodities in the world.

Russia is a high-volume, low-cost producer for all major fertilizers globally as well as a major source of uranium. It is expected that disruptions in the potash trade will increase the costs that farmers around the globe incur when purchasing fertilizers and, in turn, increase food inflation.

Potash isn’t the only raw material being affected by these disruptions either, with prices for other materials such as nitrates, sulphates, phosphates, urea, nitrogen and ammonia also increasing significantly these last few weeks.

In a press conference last week, Wilkinson stated that the Ministry of Natural Resources as well as the country’s minister of Global Affairs had been approached by parties who sought to purchase potash as well as uranium.

UxC LLC, one of the leading market research and analysis firms in the nuclear industry, revealed that Russia produces almost 35% of the total enriched uranium used in reactors worldwide. This figure is almost twice as much as the amount that the second biggest provider of enriched uranium, Cameco Corp, provides.

Cameco Corp, a Canadian firm based in Saskatchewan, is the largest publicly traded uranium company globally, as well as the biggest miner in North America. Earlier this month, the company stated in an email that its plans for production hadn’t changed from what it had announced last month, noting that the company was still focused on maintaining supply discipline by limiting production at two of its uranium operations in Canada.

However, the uranium producer did add that it was in a strong position to provide power companies with an alternative source of uranium and conversion feedstock if sanctions affected supplies from Russia. In a recent email, the mining company revealed that commercial discussions were ongoing. However, no specifics on what was being discussed were provided.

The growing demand for Canadian-sourced uranium suggests that all extractors based in North America, including Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR), are poised to register a higher-than-normal demand for this energy metal as the supplies from offshore get threatened.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/UUUU

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