Epoxy resins: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Epoxy resins are made by reacting bisphenol A with epichlorohydrin, which comes from propylene and chlorine or from glycerine. They go into coatings, composites, electronics laminates and adhesives, and wind turbine blades are a growing but cyclical use.
Proxy US PPI: thermosetting resins and plastics materials index (BLS base period) · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026There is no free public price for epoxy resins 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 linkEpoxy resins and Bisphenol A
Monthly changes 0.22 weak correlation 12-month changes 0.74 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.15 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Epoxy resins ≈ 15.5 × (Bisphenol A)0.52 R² 0.90 On this fit, a 10% higher bisphenol a price goes with a 5.1% higher epoxy resins price over the long run. Units: index (BLS base period) and index (BLS base period).Chart: Epoxy resins and Bisphenol A 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: Epoxy resins price against Bisphenol A 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.Bisphenol A is the larger part of most epoxy resins, so BPA prices set most of the cost. The cyclic intermediates proxy moves with the thermosetting proxy at 0.22 monthly and 0.74 yearly.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsEpichlorohydrin is made with chlorine, and the chlorine leaves as salt, so chlor-alkali costs feed into epoxy. The alkalies index moves with the thermosetting proxy at 0.23 monthly and 0.67 yearly, and 0.43 over the last five years.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsPropylene supplies the carbon for epichlorohydrin and, through cumene, for the acetone in BPA. The petrochemical proxy moves with the thermosetting proxy at only 0.22 monthly, as the proxy covers many resins.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsProtective coatings for steel, floors and ships are the largest epoxy use. The paints index moves with the thermosetting proxy at 0.15 monthly and 0.75 yearly, as coating prices are reset a few times a year.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsWind turbine blades are glass or carbon fibre held in epoxy, so wind build-out swings epoxy demand. The turbine price proxy moves with the resin proxy at 0.09 monthly and 0.10 yearly, since turbine prices follow steel and contracts.
little or none co-movement month to month · 184 months Show chartsHow 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.