# Activated carbon: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/correlation/ Activated carbon is made by heating coconut shells, coal or wood and treating them with steam. It is used to clean water, air and gold solutions. Prices depend on raw material costs, energy and water treatment demand. No public price Activated carbon has no public monthly price series: Sold on private contracts by grade; no public price index. #### What its price moves with Commodity [Cnt Coconut oil](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/coconut/)Feedstock Coconut shell charcoal from India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines makes the finest grade of activated carbon. Shell supply follows the coconut harvest, but there is no measured link because activated carbon has no price series. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [Tc Thermal coal](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/thermal_coal/)Feedstock Much activated carbon, especially in China and the United States, is made from coal. Coal costs and Chinese pollution rules on small kilns affect supply and price, but activated carbon has no series to measure this. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Chemical [WT Water treatment chemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/water_treatment/)Main use Water treatment is the largest use, removing taste, odour and pollutants from drinking water and waste water. Stricter rules, such as limits on new chemical pollutants, raise demand for the product. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Au Gold](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gold/)Demand driver Gold mines use activated carbon to take gold out of cyanide solution, so high gold prices and more mining raise demand. Coconut shell carbon is preferred because it is hard and wears slowly. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [Bm Biomass](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_biomass/)Feedstock Wood, sawdust and other biomass can be turned into activated carbon, and the same feedstocks are also burned as fuel, so energy demand competes for them and can raise costs. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. How to read these numbers **Correlation of monthly changes** (the number in the coloured pill) compares how much each price moved, month by month, since 2006 or the first month both series exist. It runs from −1 to +1: near +1 the two usually rise and fall in the same months, near 0 there is no link, and a negative number means they tend to move in opposite directions. Above 0.7 is strong, 0.4 to 0.7 moderate, 0.2 to 0.4 weak. **12-month changes** compare year-on-year moves, which shows whether two prices share the same cycles even when the month-to-month noise differs. **Price function** is a straight-line fit of the two prices on logarithmic scales: price ≈ k × (partner price)^β. β is how much this price moves, in per cent, for a 1% move in the partner over the whole period, and R² is the share of the variation the fit explains. Two prices that both drift up with inflation can fit well without any real link, so read it together with the monthly correlation. **Lead or lag** checks whether the monthly correlation is clearly higher when one price is shifted by 1 to 6 months. Correlation is not cause. The reasons on each card explain the economic link; the numbers show how strongly it has shown up in prices. Proxy series are US producer price indexes or related prices and can blur the real link. Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), October 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price indexes, IMF primary commodity prices and US EIA prices via FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, retrieved November 2026. Calculations by this site. ## Other sections - [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/overview/index.md) - [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/routes/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/production/index.md) - [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/feedstocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/movement/index.md) - [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/regulation/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/activated_carbon/links/index.md)