# PET resin: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/correlation/ PET resin is made from PTA and MEG, so paraxylene and ethylene costs set most of its price. It is used for bottles, food trays and film, and recycled PET supply and summer drinks demand also move it. Proxy **US PPI: thermoplastic resins and plastics materials** index (BLS base period) · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 There is no free public price for PET resin 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 ##### PET resin and Purified terephthalic acid Monthly changes 0.38 weak correlation 12-month changes 0.73 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.09 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 PET resin ≈ 6.37 × (Purified terephthalic acid)^0.69 R² 0.79 On this fit, a 10% higher purified terephthalic acid price goes with a 6.8% higher PET resin price over the long run. Units: index (BLS base period) and index (BLS base period). Chart: PET resin and Purified terephthalic acid 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: PET resin price against Purified terephthalic acid 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. Chemical [PTA Purified terephthalic acid](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pta/)Feedstock 0.38 PTA is the larger raw material, so PET is priced as a margin over its PTA and MEG cost. The cyclic intermediates proxy moves with the resin proxy at 0.38 monthly and 0.73 yearly. weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Chemical [MEG Monoethylene glycol](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/meg/)Feedstock 0.32 MEG is the second monomer, bought together with PTA. The basic organics proxy moves with the resin proxy at 0.32 monthly and 0.69 yearly. Glycol from Middle East ethane and Chinese coal plants sets the price that PET makers pay in Asia. weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Chemical [PX Paraxylene](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paraxylene/)Upstream feed 0.71 Paraxylene is the raw material behind PTA and so the largest cost behind PET. The petrochemical proxy moves with the resin proxy at 0.71 monthly and 0.89 yearly, which mostly reflects the broad resin index. strong co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Chemical [PSF Polyester fibre](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/polyester_fibre/)Sister product 0.24 PET resin and polyester fibre are the same polymer made on similar lines, and recycled bottles feed fibre plants. The fibre index moves with the resin proxy at 0.24 monthly and 0.42 yearly, as fibre follows textile cycles. weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show charts Energy [Oil Crude oil](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/crude_oil/)Feedstock cost 0.24 Both PET monomers come from oil or gas, so crude sets the cost floor. Brent moves with the resin proxy at 0.24 monthly and 0.72 yearly. Recycled PET, which needs no oil feed, competes more when virgin resin is dear. weak co-movement month to month · 249 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/pet/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/overview/index.md) - [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/routes/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/production/index.md) - [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/feedstocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/movement/index.md) - [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/regulation/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/pet/links/index.md)