Kazakhstan's national uranium production company, Kazatomprom, will decrease uranium production by 20 percent over the next three years due to oversupply and falling demand, the company announced on Monday.
The scheduled three-year production cut will start in January 2018, according to the world's largest producer.
The total production cut will be 11,000 tons over the period of which an estimated 4 thousand tons in 2018 alone represents approximately 7.5 percent of global uranium production for the year, the company said.
"Given the challenging market conditions, and in light of continued oversupply in the uranium market, we have taken the strategic decision to reduce production in order to better align our production levels with market demand," Galymzhan Pirmatov, chairman of the management board of Kazatomprom was quoted as saying.
"We believe that these measures strongly underline our commitment to ensuring the long-term sustainability of uranium mining, a critical component in the generation of clean, carbon-free electricity around the globe," Pirmatov said.
Kazakhstan produced the largest global share of uranium at 39 percent from mines in 2016, followed by Canada with 22 percent and Australia with10 percent, according to the World Nuclear Association.
(Anadolu Agency)
