Kyanite: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Kyanite and its relatives andalusite and sillimanite are alumina silicate minerals that turn into mullite when fired. They are mined in the United States, South Africa, France, India and China, and sold to refractory makers on private contracts.
No public price Kyanite has no public monthly price series: Sold to refractory makers on private contracts; no public monthly index.What its price moves with
Most kyanite goes into refractory bricks and linings for steel furnaces, ladles and casting equipment. Steel production therefore sets the bulk of demand, and refractory consumption per tonne of steel has fallen as linings last longer.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Kyanite is blended with fire clays and bauxite in refractory products, adding volume stability at high temperature. Refractory makers swap between these alumina sources depending on price and the temperature required.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Cement kilns are lined with refractories that wear out and must be replaced. Kiln capacity and maintenance cycles in cement add steady demand for mullite-forming minerals like kyanite, especially in fast-growing cement markets such as India.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Zircon-based and other high-alumina refractories compete with kyanite products in glass furnaces and foundries. A zircon price spike can move some buyers towards kyanite and andalusite blends, which perform well enough in less demanding parts of a furnace.
No public price for zirconium, so the link is explained in words only.Industrial furnaces, boilers and kilns all need refractory linings. Investment in new furnaces and the rebuild of old ones adds demand, while electric heating that lowers process temperatures could reduce it.
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.