Copper: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Copper is priced on the LME, COMEX and Shanghai exchanges. Demand comes from power grids, construction, electric vehicles and electronics, with China the largest buyer; supply depends on a few large mines in Chile, Peru and Congo and on smelter capacity.
Market price World Bank Pink Sheet: Copper $/mt · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026What its price moves with
Selected linkCopper and Aluminium
Monthly changes 0.67 moderate correlation 12-month changes 0.87 strong correlation Last 5 years 0.59 monthly changes Lead or lag none No clear lead or lag Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Copper ≈ 3.08 × (Aluminium)1.01 R² 0.66 On this fit, a 10% higher aluminium price goes with a 10.1% higher copper price over the long run. Units: $/mt and $/mt.Chart: Copper and Aluminium 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: Copper price against Aluminium 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.Aluminium replaces copper in power lines, cables and heat exchangers when copper gets expensive, and both rise and fall with the industrial cycle. Monthly moves correlate at 0.67 and yearly moves at 0.87, so a sustained copper rally usually lifts aluminium too.
moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsZinc and copper trade on the same exchanges, often come from the same polymetallic mines and serve construction and industry, so funds and industrial buyers move them together. Monthly changes correlate at 0.73, copper's strongest link here, and yearly changes also at 0.73.
strong co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsPower and communication cables are the largest use of copper, and cable makers pass metal prices straight through to buyers. The US wire index follows copper, with monthly moves correlating at 0.50 and yearly at 0.71, lagging by about a month as contracts reset.
moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsSmelting sulphide ores releases sulphur dioxide that is captured as sulphuric acid, and acid sales can make or break smelter margins. The acid price follows fertiliser demand rather than copper, so correlation is low: 0.12 monthly and 0.21 yearly.
little or none co-movement month to month · 225 months Show chartsOil and copper both respond to world growth, the US dollar and investor risk appetite, and diesel is a large mining cost. Monthly changes correlate at 0.47 and yearly at 0.70, but only 0.07 in the last five years as their drivers diverged.
moderate co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsMany large porphyry copper mines in Chile, Peru and the US recover molybdenum as a by-product, so copper mining decisions shape molybdenum supply. Molybdenum has no free price series here, so this link is shown as text only.
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.