China refines roughly 40% of the world's selenium, a byproduct of copper. What selenium is, what it does, and why copper decides its supply.
Last updated: October 2026
Selenium is a nonmetal recovered almost entirely as a byproduct of refining copper. China refines roughly 40% of world output — not because it mines selenium, but because it refines more copper than anyone else.
| # | Country | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | ~40% |
| 2 | Japan | ~15% |
| 3 | Germany | ~10% |
| 4 | United States | ~7% |
| 5 | Russia | ~6% |
Refinery production shares, 2024 (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025). Selenium is a byproduct; mine output is not reported separately.
Selenium is a nonmetal in the chalcogen group, chemically similar to sulfur. It is photoconductive — its electrical conductivity rises with light — and it is recovered from the anode slimes left over when copper is electrorefined.
Glass manufacturing (decolorizing), thin-film solar cells (CIGS: copper-indium-gallium-selenide), electronics and rectifiers, pigments, metallurgy (manganese and steel additives), and animal feed supplements.
China, with roughly 40% of world refined selenium production (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025), a direct consequence of its dominant copper-refining industry.
China accounts for roughly 40% of refined selenium. Its share follows from copper refining: whoever refines the most copper recovers the most selenium. China's grip is therefore indirect — it is a copper-refining dominance, not a selenium-mining one.
Moderate. Supply is tied to copper output and to whether refineries bother recovering selenium at all. Substitution is possible in most uses except CIGS solar. The risk is a demand shock in solar, not a deliberate cutoff.
Selenium is a nonmetal recovered almost entirely as a byproduct of copper refining. China refines roughly 40% of world output because it refines the most copper. Nobody mines selenium directly, so supply can only grow as fast as copper refining — the classic byproduct trap.
Selenium is a nonmetal in the chalcogen group, chemically similar to sulfur. It is photoconductive — its electrical conductivity rises with light — and it is recovered from the anode slimes left over when copper is electrorefined.
Glass manufacturing (decolorizing), thin-film solar cells (CIGS: copper-indium-gallium-selenide), electronics and rectifiers, pigments, metallurgy (manganese and steel additives), and animal feed supplements.
China, with roughly 40% of world refined selenium production (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025), a direct consequence of its dominant copper-refining industry.
