# Autocatalysts: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/correlation/ Autocatalysts coat ceramic or metal substrates with platinum, palladium and rhodium to clean vehicle exhaust. Their price is mostly the value of these metals plus coating cost, and demand follows vehicle output and emission rules. Proxy **World Bank Pink Sheet: platinum** US$/troy oz · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 There is no free public price for autocatalysts itself, so this tab uses the closest public series as a stand-in. Read the numbers as an indication, not as the price of this exact item. #### What its price moves with Selected link ##### Autocatalysts and Silver Monthly changes 0.74 strong correlation 12-month changes 0.79 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.85 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Autocatalysts ≈ 461.7 × (Silver)^0.31 R² 0.24 On this fit, a 10% higher silver price goes with a 3.0% higher autocatalysts price over the long run. Units: US$/troy oz and $/troy oz. The fit is loose, so treat the function as a rough guide. Chart: Autocatalysts and Silver prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, log scale Both prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, on a log scale so equal percentage moves look the same size. Chart: Autocatalysts price against Silver price, monthly, log scales, with fitted line Each dot is one month; paler dots are older (2006), darker dots recent (2026); the ringed dot is the latest month. The dashed line is the fitted price function. Both axes are logarithmic. Commodity [Pd Palladium](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/palladium/)Main petrol metal Palladium is the main metal in petrol car catalysts, and carmakers swap between palladium and platinum when the price gap is large. Palladium has no series here, but this swapping ties the platinum proxy to palladium. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Rh Rhodium](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/rhodium/)NOx catalyst Rhodium removes nitrogen oxides in three-way catalysts and, gram for gram, is the most expensive metal in them. Its price swings, such as the 2021 spike, can dominate catalyst costs, but no public rhodium series is used here. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Ag Silver](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/silver/)Precious metal driver 0.74 Silver and platinum both trade as part industrial, part investment metals, so they share moves in the US dollar and investor demand. The platinum proxy correlates with silver at 0.74 for monthly moves, 0.79 for yearly moves and 0.85 over the last five years. strong co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Energy [ICV Combustion road vehicles](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_road_ice/)Main demand −0.15 Petrol and diesel vehicles are the reason autocatalysts exist, and tighter norms such as India's BS-VI raised metal loadings. The vehicle proxy is a car price index, which tracks pricing rather than output, so monthly moves correlate at -0.15. little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Energy [EV Electric and hybrid vehicles](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_evs/)Demand threat −0.15 Battery EVs need no exhaust catalyst, so their rising share erodes long-term platinum group metal demand, while hybrids still use catalysts. The EV proxy is the same car price index as for combustion vehicles, so its statistics cannot separate the two. little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Chemical [Cat Chemical process catalysts](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/process_catalysts/)Competing metal use Chemical and refining catalysts also use platinum, palladium and rhodium, for example in nitric acid gauzes and naphtha reforming. They compete with carmakers for the same metal, and spent catalysts from both are recycled. 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/autocatalysts/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/overview/index.md) - [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/routes/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/production/index.md) - [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/feedstocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/movement/index.md) - [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/regulation/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/autocatalysts/links/index.md)