#34Se
Selenium Price
Semiconductor Metal
Used in glass manufacturing, electronics, and solar cells.
- Main trade forms
- Powder / shot
- Available from
- CN, JP, BE, DE
Last update: Mar 15, 2026
3 records
3 records
Retail Reference
$20/kg
Powder 99.99% (4N) · 1 kg
Edgetech Industries · CN · Mar 15, 2026
Bulk Benchmark
n/a
No commodity benchmark available
Applications
| Application | Role | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Glass manufacturing | Se as decolouriser and red colourant | ~30% of Se demand. Removes Fe2+ green tint in container glass; cadmium selenide imparts red colour to art glass. |
| Metallurgy | Free-machining additions to stainless steel and Cu alloys | Improves machinability of 303-grade stainless and leaded brass replacements |
| CIGS thin-film solar | Cu(In,Ga)Se2 photovoltaic absorber | Flexible thin-film PV cells; Solar Frontier and Avancis are leading manufacturers |
| Animal feed & supplements | Sodium selenite and selenomethionine | Essential trace nutrient for livestock and human supplementation |
| Xerographic drums | Amorphous Se photoreceptor coatings | Legacy photocopier and laser printer drums (now mostly OPC organic photoreceptors) |
Market & Supply
Global refined production
~3,000 t/year [3]
Top producers
China, Japan, Germany, Belgium
Source
Cu electrorefining anode slime by-product
Co-product with
Te, Ag, Au (anode slime)
Export control
Not on MOFCOM list
Se metal benchmark
$15 to $22/kg (Argus FOB)
Se shot retail (1 kg)
$35 to $80/kg
High-purity 5N retail
$150 to $400/kg
Verified Offers
Selenium is one of the cheapest minor metals at the bulk benchmark. Retail listings include shot, powder, and amorphous Se for laboratory and glass-art use. The auto-rendered table shows tracked listings.
| Purity | MOQ | Original | Source | Verification | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-15 | Powder | 99.99% (4N) | 1 kg | 1 kg | $28 | 28 USD/kg | distributor offer | Stanford Advanced Materials | US | single source offer | 0.60 |
| 2026-03-15 | Powder | 99.99% (4N) | 1 kg | 1 kg | $20 | 20 USD/kg | distributor offer | Edgetech Industries | CN | single source offer | 0.60 |
| 2026-03-15 | Powder | 99.99% (4N) | 1 kg | 1 kg | $22 | 22 USD/kg | marketplace offer | ALB Materials | CN | single source offer | 0.60 |
3 records · click a column to sort
Important Notes
Co-production with copper
Selenium is recovered from copper anode slimes during electrorefining. Production scales with global Cu refining throughput (~25 Mt/year), not Se demand. New supply requires modifying anode-slime treatment circuits at integrated Cu refineries.
Demand softness
Two of Se’s historical end-uses (xerographic drums and decorative red glass) are in long-term decline. CIGS solar growth has not offset legacy demand losses, leaving Se in chronic mild oversupply.
Toxicity in feed formulation
Selenium is essential at micrograms/day but toxic above ~400 µg/day. Animal-feed selenium supplementation operates within tight regulatory thresholds (FDA, EFSA), constraining demand growth from this segment.
Physical Properties [1]
Z: 34 · Ar: 78.971 u · ρ: 4.81 g/cm3 · Tm: 221 °C · Tb: 685 °CCrystal: hexagonal · Config: [Ar]3d104s24p4 · Ox. states: -2, +2, +4, +6
References
- Wolfram Alpha, “Selenium element.” wolframalpha.com.
- Argus Media, “Selenium price assessments.” argusmedia.com.
- United States Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025: Selenium, January 2025.
Seen a sourced Selenium quote that is missing above?