By: David Shoombe
While the value of diamonds is faced with pressure from international competition, the uranium trade has continued to be a major commodity in Namibia, competing with gold for the top export commodity spot.
In 2025, uranium maintained its position in Namibia’s top five export commodities.
The November 2025 Trade Statistics by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) show that uranium emerged as the second-most exported commodity, accumulating 19.9% of total exports, behind non-monetary gold which accounted for 21,1 % of total exports .
Uranium’s commodity price rating for January 2026 shows that it cements its position as one of the strongest-performing commodities in the current cycle of the market. The current rating also shows that the price of uranium has increased by more than 145% in the last ten years.
Based on international trade statistics, China and France remain Namibia’s most consistent trading partners as export destinations for uranium.
Data from the World Nuclear Association shows that “China aims to produce one-third of its uranium domestically, obtain one-third through foreign equity in mines and joint ventures overseas, and to purchase one-third on the open market.”
It is further noted that uranium demand in 2023 was over 11,000 tonnes of uranium (tU), and is expected to rise to over 40,000 tU by 2040.
With the demand for uranium expected to persist in 2026 and murmurs of nuclear energy investments becoming louder, energy expert Marie Peters states that “Namibia must not focus on finance, but build a sustainable project while uranium is there before the world squeezes every metric tonne from her ground.”
She further explained that Namibia is one of the global leaders in naturally-occuring uranium, hence prioritising domestic mineral utilisation before depletion is of the utmost importance.
The Economic Association of Namibia’s domestic outlook indicates that the predicted economic growth is around 3.9%, which is a stable projection, but not transformative in the sense of employment creation or poverty eradication.
In this regard, the context of market diversification and value addition in the forms of examples such as uranium is central to Namibia’s developmental plans.
Latest market trend statistics show that Namibia maintained its position as one of the top producers of uranium and is home to three key uranium mines – Langer Heinrich, Rössing, and Husab – with Etango Uranium Mine still under works
