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Tellurium Reference Rate — 10-Day Trend
All prices in ₹ per gram · daily rate, updated once per day
Tellurium vs Copper: Two Metals, One Refining Process
Comparing tellurium and copper isn't really an apples-to-apples price comparison the way comparing two precious metals might be. Copper, tracked in full on its own copper price page, is a mature, directly-mined industrial metal with a deep, globally-traded market. Tellurium, trading today at ₹10.42 per gram, is something else entirely: a rare specialty material recovered almost exclusively as a byproduct of copper's own refining process.
Here's the mechanism in plain terms. When copper ore is smelted and then electrolytically refined to reach the high purity that industry needs, the process leaves behind anode slimes — a residue that concentrates whatever trace elements were riding along in the original ore. Tellurium is one of those trace elements, and a refiner can choose to run additional processing on that slime specifically to recover it.
- Copper: mined directly, refined at massive industrial scale, deep global market
- Tellurium: recovered from copper's anode slime, essentially never mined on its own
- Today's tellurium rate: ₹10.42 per gram (₹10,415.66 per kg)
Tellurium Reference Rate by Weight
Today's Tellurium rate is Ten Rupees per gram. At this rate, 10 grams of Tellurium costs One Hundred and Four Rupees.
| Unit | Weight | Price (INR) | Price in Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Gram | 1.0000 g | ₹10.42 | Ten Rupees |
| 8 Grams | 8.0000 g | ₹83.33 | Eighty Three Rupees |
| 10 Grams | 10.0000 g | ₹104.16 | One Hundred and Four Rupees |
| 100 Grams | 100.0000 g | ₹1,041.57 | One Thousand Forty Two Rupees |
| 1 Kilogram | 1,000.0000 g | ₹10,415.66 | Ten Thousand Four Hundred and Sixteen Rupees |
| 1 Ounce (oz) | 28.3495 g | ₹295.28 | Two Hundred and Ninety Five Rupees |
| 1 Troy Ounce | 31.1035 g | ₹323.96 | Three Hundred and Twenty Four Rupees |
| 1 Metric Ton | 1,000,000.0000 g | ₹10,415,662.00 | One Crore Four Lakh Fifteen Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Two Rupees |
Why the Two Prices Don't Move Together
It would be a reasonable guess that a rising copper price drags tellurium up with it, since the two are so closely linked in production. In practice, the relationship is looser than that. Copper's price is set by a huge, liquid global market shaped by construction demand, electrical infrastructure, and broader industrial activity. Tellurium's price is set by a much smaller, thinner market shaped by whether refiners bother recovering it and how much cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar panel manufacturing wants at the time.
The recovery decision matters more than the copper price itself
What actually connects the two prices most directly is copper refining volume, not the copper price. If more copper is being refined globally — regardless of whether copper itself is expensive or cheap — more anode slime gets generated, which means more raw material is available for tellurium recovery, if a refiner chooses to pursue it. A refiner weighing that choice looks mainly at tellurium's own price and the cost of the extra recovery step, not at what copper itself is doing that week.
This is exactly why tellurium can rally or slump independent of copper's own price action. A quiet week for copper prices can still be an active week for tellurium if CdTe solar demand shifts, or if a major refiner changes its recovery practices.
Tellurium Reference Rate — Last 10 Days
The most recent Tellurium price on record (2026-09-17) is Ten Rupees per gram. This is up by Less than One Rupees from the previous day's rate of ₹10.39.
| Date | Price (INR/g) | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-17 | ₹10.42 | +0.02 |
| 2026-09-16 | ₹10.39 | +0.00 |
| 2026-09-15 | ₹10.39 | +0.01 |
| 2026-09-14 | ₹10.37 | +0.02 |
| 2026-09-13 | ₹10.36 | +0.00 |
| 2026-09-12 | ₹10.36 | +0.01 |
| 2026-09-11 | ₹10.35 | -0.01 |
| 2026-09-10 | ₹10.36 | +0.05 |
| 2026-09-09 | ₹10.31 | +0.04 |
| 2026-09-08 | ₹10.27 | — |
What This Relationship Means for Anyone Watching Both Markets
Anyone tracking tellurium seriously should keep half an eye on the copper industry too, not because the prices move together, but because copper refining activity is the physical source of tellurium's entire supply. A major expansion or contraction in global copper refining capacity is, indirectly, a tellurium supply story as well — even though it would never be reported that way in copper industry news.
This same pattern — a smaller, rarer material riding along with a much bigger parent metal's production — shows up elsewhere on this site too. Rhodium depends on platinum and palladium refining. Gallium and indium depend on bauxite and zinc processing. Tellurium's relationship with copper is simply this site's clearest example of that broader byproduct-supply story, and it's worth understanding on its own terms rather than assuming it behaves like copper's smaller sibling.
Tellurium vs Copper — FAQs
Tellurium is recovered as a byproduct of copper refining — specifically, from the anode slimes and residues left over during the electrolytic refining process that turns impure copper into high-purity copper. It is essentially never mined as a primary target on its own.
Not directly. Copper's price reflects a deep, widely-traded industrial market with its own supply and demand story. Tellurium's price depends more on how much copper is being refined (which generates the anode slime it comes from) and on whether refiners find tellurium recovery worthwhile, plus separately on cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar panel demand. The two prices don't move in lockstep.
Recovering tellurium from anode slime takes extra processing steps and equipment. If tellurium prices are low or the additional recovery cost doesn't clear a reasonable margin, a refiner may choose not to bother, even though the tellurium is physically present in the slime.
It's the closest indirect option available, since there's no tellurium bullion market or dedicated tellurium fund. But it's an imperfect proxy — a copper company's share price is driven overwhelmingly by copper output, costs and broader market sentiment, with tellurium recovery typically a very small side stream even for refiners that do it.
Yes. Rhodium is recovered from platinum and palladium refining, and gallium and indium are recovered from bauxite and zinc processing respectively. Tellurium's relationship to copper follows the same general pattern seen across several other metals this site tracks.
