# Hafnium: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/correlation/ Hafnium is a by-product of making nuclear-grade zirconium, produced by a handful of companies in France, the US, China and Russia. Superalloys for jet engines and gas turbines, plasma cutting and chips set demand, so supply is rigid and prices spike. No public price Hafnium has no public monthly price series: Tiny by-product market priced privately; no public series. #### What its price moves with Commodity [Zr Zirconium](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/zirconium/)By-product source Hafnium has to be removed from zirconium for reactor use, and that separation yields almost all the hafnium sold. Supply therefore depends on nuclear zirconium output, not on hafnium prices. No public price for zirconium, so the link is explained in words only. Energy [NFR Nuclear fission reactors](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_fission/)Supply and use Nuclear plants drive hafnium supply through zirconium cladding demand, and hafnium is also used in some reactor control rods because it absorbs neutrons strongly. Reactor build-outs therefore raise both supply and a little demand. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [Jet Aviation propulsion](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_aviation/)Superalloy use Small amounts of hafnium in nickel superalloys strengthen turbine blades in jet engines, the largest use. Aircraft engine build rates can outrun the hafnium that zirconium separation yields, which is why prices spike. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Ni Nickel](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/nickel/)Alloy base The superalloys that use hafnium are nickel-based, so turbine makers buy both. Nickel is cheap and plentiful in comparison, while hafnium is the scarce ingredient whose supply cannot be expanded quickly. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [CCGT Gas turbines and combined cycle](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_gas_turbines/)Superalloy use Industrial gas turbines for power plants use the same hafnium-bearing superalloy blades as jet engines, so the gas power build-out for data centres adds demand on top of aviation, tightening an already small market. 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/hafnium/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/overview/index.md) - [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/extraction/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/production/index.md) - [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/stocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/movement/index.md) - [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/criticality/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/hafnium/links/index.md)