Macquarie Commodities reports receiving “conflicting messages from Kazakh officials as to the outlook for Kazakh uranium output. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer and has driven almost all of the global growth in production over the past five years. Sauat Mynbayev, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, has noted, “We’re already the top country in terms of output volume, but do we need this? Our main task is to sell fuel, not uranium ore, or at least to sell the majority of our uranium in the form of fuel, processed as much as possible in Kazakhstan.” Meanwhile, the press service of Kazatomprom said that Kazakh uranium output will rise to 18,000 t U in 2010, up from 8,500 t in 2008. What happens in Kazakhstan is key to the outlook for the uranium market over the next one to two years.”