Phenol and acetone: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Phenol and acetone are made together from cumene, itself made from benzene and propylene, in fixed proportions. Prices follow those two feeds, with demand from bisphenol A for polycarbonate and epoxy, and from acetone solvents and acrylics.
Proxy US PPI: cyclic intermediate chemicals index (BLS base period) · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026There is no free public price for phenol and acetone 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 linkPhenol and acetone and Benzene
Monthly changes 0.50 moderate correlation 12-month changes 0.73 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.02 monthly changes Lead or lag +1 mo Benzene tends to lead by 1 month (r 0.56) Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Phenol and acetone ≈ 116.6 × (Benzene)0.10 R² 0.02 On this fit, a 10% higher benzene price goes with a 1.0% higher phenol and acetone price over the long run. Units: index (BLS base period) and index (BLS base period). The fit is loose, so treat the function as a rough guide.Chart: Phenol and acetone and Benzene 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: Phenol and acetone price against Benzene 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.Benzene is the larger cumene input, so phenol contracts are often set as a margin over benzene. The petrochemical proxy moves with the cyclic proxy at 0.50 monthly and 0.73 yearly, though the last five years show almost no monthly tie.
moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsPropylene is the second cumene input and the source of the acetone half of the output. It shares the petrochemical proxy with benzene, so the measured figures are identical to those for benzene and cannot separate the two.
moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsBisphenol A takes the largest share of phenol and also consumes acetone, so polycarbonate and epoxy demand drives both co-products. It sits in the same proxy index as phenol here, so no separate statistics are shown.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Acetone, the fixed co-product, goes into methyl methacrylate for acrylic sheet, so weak acetone demand can squeeze phenol plants. The broad resin index moves with the cyclic proxy at 0.38 monthly and 0.73 yearly.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsBoth cumene feeds come from oil or gas liquids, so crude sets the cost floor of phenol. The tie is moderate, 0.20 monthly and 0.67 yearly, because phenol margins follow their own supply cycle.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsRefineries supply much of the benzene and some of the propylene used for cumene, so refinery runs shift phenol costs. The refinery index moves with the cyclic proxy at 0.34 monthly and 0.74 yearly.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 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.