# Mercury: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/correlation/ Mercury comes from a few primary mines and as a by-product of gold, zinc and gas processing. The Minamata Convention restricts mining, trade and most uses, so remaining demand from vinyl chloride catalysts and small-scale gold mining sets thin, opaque prices. No public price Mercury has no public monthly price series: Trade restricted under the Minamata Convention; no public monthly price series. #### What its price moves with Commodity [Au Gold](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/gold/)Demand driver Artisanal and small-scale gold miners use mercury to bind gold from crushed ore, making it the largest global use despite its health damage. Higher gold prices draw more people into this mining, raising informal mercury demand and smuggling. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Chemical [VCM Vinyl chloride monomer](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/vcm/)Catalyst use Plants in China making vinyl chloride from coal-based acetylene use a mercury chloride catalyst. This is the largest industrial use, and shifting those plants to mercury-free catalysts or ethylene-based routes would cut demand sharply. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Chemical [Cl2 Chlorine](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/chlorine/)Former use Mercury cells were once a main way to electrolyse brine into chlorine and caustic soda. Most have been closed or converted to membrane cells, and the mercury released from their closure added supply to the market for years. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Zn Zinc](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/zinc/)By-product Some zinc and copper smelters recover mercury from their ore as a pollution control step. This by-product supply arrives whatever the mercury price, adding to the rigid supply that keeps prices volatile. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [LED Lighting and displays](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_lighting/)Former use Fluorescent tubes and compact lamps need a little mercury, but LED lighting has replaced them and many countries now ban their sale. This was once a steady use and is now close to gone. 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/mercury/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/overview/index.md) - [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/extraction/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/production/index.md) - [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/stocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/movement/index.md) - [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/criticality/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/mercury/links/index.md)