Organic pigments: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Organic pigments, such as phthalocyanine blues and greens and azo yellows and reds, colour paints, inks and plastics. They are built from aromatic intermediates, and prices depend on Chinese and Indian supply, environmental curbs and coatings and packaging demand.
Price index US PPI: synthetic organic pigments, lakes and toners index (BLS base period =100) · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026What its price moves with
Selected linkOrganic pigments and Benzene
Monthly changes -0.03 little or none correlation 12-month changes 0.22 weak correlation Last 5 years -0.01 monthly changes Lead or lag +2 mo Benzene tends to lead by 2 months (r 0.15) Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Organic pigments ≈ 196.8 × (Benzene)-0.05 R² 0.01 On this fit, a 10% higher benzene price goes with a −0.5% lower organic pigments price over the long run. Units: index (BLS base period =100) and index (BLS base period). The fit is loose, so treat the function as a rough guide.Chart: Organic pigments 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: Organic pigments 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.Azo and phthalocyanine pigments are built from aromatic amines and phthalic derivatives that start as benzene, toluene or xylene. The petrochemical proxy barely tracks the pigment index, at -0.03 for monthly moves and 0.22 for yearly moves.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsCopper phthalocyanine, the most important blue and green pigment, has a copper atom at its centre. Copper is a small part of its cost, so monthly moves correlate at only 0.02 and yearly moves at -0.13.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsPaints and coatings are the biggest buyers of organic pigments, alongside printing inks and plastics. The two indexes correlate at 0.17 for monthly moves and 0.63 for yearly moves, reflecting shared demand and slow price resets.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsTitanium dioxide supplies white and opacity while organic pigments add colour, and both go to the same coatings makers. The proxy is a dye and pigment manufacturing index that partly covers organic pigments too; monthly moves correlate at 0.25 and yearly at 0.71.
weak co-movement month to month · 178 months Show chartsDyes and pigments come from the same intermediates and often the same plants in Gujarat and China. Their US indexes correlate at 0.12 for monthly moves and 0.35 for yearly moves, as their end markets differ.
little or none 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.