Mid-year selenium tender boosts market confidence, with selenium prices weakening first and then strengthening this week [SMM Selenium Market Analysis]

SMM reported on June 27: This week, there were still many selenium manufacturers conducting tenders to sell selenium products. According to unofficial market sources, the results of Jingxi City's Daxinan Manganese Industry Co., Ltd.'s recent public inquiry and procurement of 4 mt of selenium dioxide were successfully concluded through competitive bidding. The winning bidder was an enterprise from Hunan, with the final transaction price slightly below 92.5 yuan/kg. Market participants indicated that the current procurement market competition for manganese plants is fierce. It is rumored that the top three bidding prices were all around 92.5 yuan/kg, suggesting that selenium dioxide suppliers currently have a strong willingness to sell. This could also be due to manufacturers hoping to reduce inventory and cash in before mid-year, preparing for the procurement of raw materials in July. Therefore, in the first half of this week, the price of selenium dioxide showed a significant weakening trend, with some declines. However, in the second half of this week, according to official news from Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd.'s Jinguan Copper Industry Branch, 32 mt of crude selenium under its banner were successfully traded today, with the transaction price around 115 yuan/kg. Market participants indicated that compared to the recent transactions of other manufacturers' crude selenium tenders at around 105-108 yuan/kg, the crude selenium transaction price of Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co., Ltd.'s Jinguan Copper Industry Branch this week has significantly increased, indicating a clear recovery in market confidence for crude selenium and an improvement in buyers' interest. Some buyers have even begun to actively raise their purchase intention prices for crude selenium. After the second half of this week, selenium product suppliers in the market, especially crude selenium suppliers, have clearly begun to hold back sales, raise quotes, and even experience price jumps, thus driving the price of selenium dioxide to gradually stabilize after the decline.

Currently, mid-year is approaching, and Q3 is just around the corner. Due to the remarkable performance of selenium prices in July last year, buyers and sellers in the market are currently showing close attention and are eager to participate. From recent market transactions, although selenium product prices have further bottomed out, there have been transactions all along. On the one hand, this shows the industry chain's optimism about the medium and long-term market. On the other hand, many market participants have indicated that the current selenium price is at a historical low, and the risk of continuing to buy at a low price is already small. This is also why there have been frequent buying activities in recent selenium product tenders. Many market participants have indicated that due to the healthy operation of selenium's downstream industries, such as manganese plants, this year, it will also provide support for future selenium prices. Currently, the average price of SMM crude selenium is 110 yuan/kg, the average price of selenium dioxide is 92.5 yuan/kg, the average price of 99.9% selenium powder is 180 yuan/kg, and the average price of 99.99% selenium powder is 265 yuan/kg.