Peat: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Peat is partly decayed plant matter cut from bogs in Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Baltic states and Russia. It is sold as horticultural growing media and, less and less, as power and heating fuel. Climate rules are steadily shrinking its use.
No public price Peat has no public monthly price series: Sold locally by volume under private deals; no public monthly price series.What its price moves with
Power and heat plants in Finland and Ireland that burned peat have switched to wood chips and other biomass. As peat fuel use is phased out, wood fuel prices rather than peat set the cost of these plants.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Peat has a carbon footprint similar to or higher than coal when burned, and both are being pushed out by carbon pricing. Where peat plants remain, coal is the alternative fuel that sets their competitive limit.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Coir, the fibre from coconut husks, is the main peat substitute in potting mixes. Coir exports from India and Sri Lanka grow as European countries restrict peat, linking peat demand to coconut processing.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Commercial growers mix peat with perlite to improve drainage and air in potting compost. Reduced peat use means more mineral and fibre additives, so perlite demand rises as peat volumes fall.
No public price for perlite, so the link is explained in words only.Vermiculite is blended with peat in seed and propagation mixes to hold water and nutrients. Changes in peat availability shift growing media recipes and change demand for mineral additives such as vermiculite.
No public price for vermiculite, so the link is explained in words only.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.