# Hydrofluoric acid: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/correlation/ Hydrofluoric acid is made by reacting fluorspar with sulphuric acid, with China the largest supplier. It feeds refrigerants, fluoropolymers, aluminium fluoride and battery salts. The series is a broad US inorganic acids index proxy. Proxy **US PPI: inorganic acids incl. hydrochloric and other** index (BLS base period) · monthly, Dec 2008 to Sep 2026 There is no free public price for hydrofluoric acid 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 ##### Hydrofluoric acid and Sulphuric acid Monthly changes 0.84 strong correlation 12-month changes 0.85 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.97 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Dec 2008 to Sep 2026 Hydrofluoric acid ≈ 6.71 × (Sulphuric acid)^0.54 R² 0.72 On this fit, a 10% higher sulphuric acid price goes with a 5.3% higher hydrofluoric acid price over the long run. Units: index (BLS base period) and index (BLS base period). Chart: Hydrofluoric acid and Sulphuric acid prices rebased to 100 at Dec 2008, log scale Both prices rebased to 100 at Dec 2008, on a log scale so equal percentage moves look the same size. Chart: Hydrofluoric acid price against Sulphuric acid price, monthly, log scales, with fitted line Each dot is one month; paler dots are older (2008), darker dots recent (2026); the ringed dot is the latest month. The dashed line is the fitted price function. Both axes are logarithmic. Commodity [F Fluorspar](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/fluorspar/)Feedstock Acid-grade fluorspar is the only commercial source of fluorine, and China controls much supply, so fluorspar sets the acid's cost. Fluorspar has no public price series here, so the link is shown as text only. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Chemical [H2SO4 Sulphuric acid](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/sulphuric_acid/)Feedstock 0.84 Sulphuric acid reacts with fluorspar to release hydrogen fluoride. The proxy and the sulphuric acid index move almost together: monthly moves correlate at 0.84, which likely reflects overlapping US index coverage as well as shared costs. strong co-movement month to month · 190 months Show charts Chemical [HFC Fluorochemicals and refrigerants](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/fluoro_intermediates/)Derived product 0.11 Refrigerants and other fluorochemicals are made from hydrofluoric acid. The proxy correlates with the fluorochemicals index at 0.11 for monthly moves and 0.41 for yearly moves, because refrigerant prices follow regulation and quotas. little or none co-movement month to month · 207 months Show charts Chemical [LiPF6 Battery electrolytes](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/electrolytes/)Derived product Lithium hexafluorophosphate, the salt in most lithium-ion battery electrolytes, needs high-purity hydrofluoric acid. Battery growth, led by China, adds demand, but electrolytes have no public price series here, so the link is shown as text only. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Al Aluminium](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/aluminum/)Demand driver −0.02 Aluminium smelters use aluminium fluoride, made from hydrofluoric acid, in the electrolytic bath. The aluminium price shows little link with the proxy: monthly moves correlate at minus 0.02 and yearly moves at 0.27. little or none co-movement month to month · 214 months Show charts Energy [HP Heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_heat_pumps/)End-use demand 0.21 Air conditioners and heat pumps use fluorinated refrigerants, so cooling demand drives the acid market. The equipment index correlates at 0.21 for monthly moves and 0.60 for yearly moves, mostly a shared US industrial cycle. weak co-movement month to month · 214 months Show charts 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/hydrofluoric_acid/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/overview/index.md) - [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/routes/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/production/index.md) - [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/feedstocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/movement/index.md) - [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/regulation/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/hydrofluoric_acid/links/index.md)