Silicon carbide-based fine particles containing an electrically conducting inorganic substance and a electromagnetic wave absorbing material, which are fine particles comprising a particle inner portion of a silicon carbide-based material and a surface layer formed of an electrically conducting inorganic substance mainly comprising carbon, wherein a gradient layer with the compositional ratio of the electrically conducting inorganic substance gradiently increasing toward the particle surface is present and the thickness of the electrically conducting inorganic substance gradient layer is from 1 to 500 nm. The electromagnetic wave absorbing material of the present invention can selectively absorb a electromagnetic wave of 1 to 300 GHz in a wide band.