Selenium: Stocks

Why copper refining, not geology, limits supply

What this tab covers How much is left and how much is held. For minerals and energy: reserves, current output, years of supply and recycling for the top five countries. For farm commodities: production, ending stocks and stocks-to-use for the top five producers (USDA, October 2026). It also covers inventories and stockpiles.

Top five countries: reserves, output and years of supply

Country	Reserves not estimated (USGS: reserves cannot be reliably quantified)	Current output t Se (refinery production, 2025e)	Years of supply	Recycling
China	–	2,000	–	n/a
Japan	–	640	–	n/a
Russia	–	320	–	n/a
Belgium	–	200	–	n/a
Canada	–	130	–	n/a

USGS MCS 2026, Selenium (world refinery production and capacity table). Years of supply = reserves ÷ current output; reserves grow as prices and technology change, so this is not a countdown.

Recycling

USGS gives refinery capacity, not reserves: China 2,500 t, Japan 800 t, Russia 350 t, Belgium 300 t, Mexico 190 t, Canada 180 t, Finland 170 t, India 100 t, world 5,100 t (2025). Older IBM figures put world reserves at about 100,000 t (IBM 2020, citing USGS), but USGS no longer publishes them. Recycling is insignificant in the US (USGS 2026) and about 1% end-of-life in the EU (EU CRM 2023), because most uses (glass, feed, fertiliser, manganese) are dissipative. No India rate is published.

USGS does not publish selenium reserves, because selenium is not reported at mine or country level. No reserve life can be computed. The binding constraint is copper refining rather than geology. Old-scrap recycling is negligible: the EU puts the end-of-life recycling input rate at 1%. Selenium dispersed in glass, fertiliser, feed and shampoo cannot be recovered. US electronic scrap containing selenium is mostly exported for recovery. US producer stocks are withheld, and there is no US government stockpile. World refinery capacity of 5,100 t sits well above 2025 output of 3,800 t.

Recycling

End-of-life recycling input rate in the EU: 1% of demand met from post-consumer scrap (EU CRM study 2023).

Insignificant; most selenium-bearing electronic scrap was exported for recovery.