# Barite: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/correlation/ Barite is a heavy mineral ground into weighting agent for oil and gas drilling muds, its main use. China, India, Morocco and Mexico export most of it. Prices follow drilling activity, freight and Chinese export supply, under private contracts. No public price Barite has no public monthly price series: Sold by grade on private contracts; no public monthly price series. #### What its price moves with Energy [Oil Crude oil](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/crude_oil/)Demand driver Drillers add barite to mud to control well pressure, so demand rises and falls with the number of wells being drilled. Higher oil prices lead to more drilling a few months later, which lifts barite orders. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [UOG Unconventional oil and gas](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_oil_gas_unconv/)Main use Shale drilling in the United States uses large amounts of drilling mud, making North American shale the biggest single barite market. Rig counts in shale basins move barite imports and prices more than any other factor. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Chemical [OFC Oilfield and mining chemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/oilfield_chemicals/)Used with Barite is blended with clays, polymers and other chemicals by drilling fluid service companies. Those firms buy barite in bulk, hold stocks near drilling regions and pass its cost on to well operators within the price of their mud packages. No public price for oilfield and mining chemicals, so the link is explained in words only. Commodity [Sr Strontium](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/strontium/)Substitute Celestite, the strontium sulphate mineral, is a lighter alternative weighting agent when barite is scarce. Its use is limited, but it caps how far barite prices can rise for some drillers. No public price for strontium, so the link is explained in words only. Commodity [Fe Iron ore](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/iron_ore/)Substitute Hematite, an iron ore mineral, is denser than barite and can replace it as a weighting agent. It is used where barite is costly or below the required density, linking a small slice of iron ore to drilling. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [Tk Tankers, barges and fuel trucks](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_tankers/)Freight cost Barite is a low-value bulk cargo shipped long distances from India, China and Morocco to the Americas. Ocean freight therefore makes up a large part of the landed cost, so shipping rates shift delivered barite prices. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. 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/commodities/barite/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/overview/index.md) - [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/extraction/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/production/index.md) - [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/stocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/movement/index.md) - [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/criticality/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/barite/links/index.md)