# Benzene: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/correlation/ Benzene comes from refinery reformers, cracker pyrolysis gasoline and coke ovens, and from converting toluene. It is priced in monthly contracts and spot deals that follow crude, and demand from styrene, phenol and nylon. Proxy **US PPI: petrochemical manufacturing** index (BLS base period) · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 There is no free public price for benzene 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 ##### Benzene and Crude oil Monthly changes 0.52 moderate correlation 12-month changes 0.89 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.33 monthly changes Lead or lag +1 mo Crude oil tends to lead by 1 month (r 0.72) Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Benzene ≈ 7.55 × (Crude oil)^0.71 R² 0.82 On this fit, a 10% higher crude oil price goes with a 7.0% higher benzene price over the long run. Units: index (BLS base period) and $/bbl. Chart: Benzene and Crude oil 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: Benzene price against Crude oil 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. Energy [Oil Crude oil](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/crude_oil/)Feedstock cost 0.52 Most benzene is extracted from aromatic-rich streams made from naphtha, so its cost follows crude oil. The proxy index correlates with Brent at 0.52 monthly and 0.89 yearly, which mainly reflects this shared oil base. moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Energy [Kc Coking coal](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/coking_coal/)Co-product 0.31 Coke ovens for steelmaking yield crude benzol, a notable benzene source in China and India. The coal proxy moves with the petrochemical proxy at 0.31 monthly and 0.71 yearly, largely through the common energy cycle rather than this small stream. weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Energy [Ref Refining and reforming](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_refining/)Co-product 0.68 Catalytic reformers in refineries produce benzene alongside high-octane petrol, and rules capping benzene in fuel push more onto the chemical market. The refinery index moves with the proxy at 0.68 monthly and 0.90 yearly. moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Chemical [SM Styrene](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/styrene/)Main product 0.50 Styrene, made via ethylbenzene, takes the largest share of benzene, so polystyrene and ABS demand pulls on it. The cyclic intermediates proxy moves with the petrochemical proxy at 0.50 monthly and 0.73 yearly, though only 0.02 over the last five years. moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Chemical [Tol Toluene](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/toluene/)Converted from Toluene can be converted into benzene and xylenes when benzene is dear, which caps the gap between the two prices. They share the same proxy index here, so no separate statistics are shown for this pair. 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/benzene/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/overview/index.md) - [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/routes/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/production/index.md) - [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/feedstocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/movement/index.md) - [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/regulation/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/benzene/links/index.md)