Rhenium: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Rhenium is recovered almost entirely from the flue dust of roasting molybdenum concentrate from porphyry copper mines, so supply follows copper and molybdenum output. Demand comes from jet engine superalloys and refinery reforming catalysts, sold on private contracts.
No public price Rhenium has no public monthly price series: Sold in small lots on private contracts; no public monthly price series.What its price moves with
Rhenium is captured when molybdenum sulphide concentrate is roasted, so its supply rises and falls with molybdenum processing rather than with rhenium demand. A rhenium shortage cannot be met by opening a rhenium mine, which makes the price prone to sharp spikes.
No public price for molybdenum, so the link is explained in words only.Most molybdenum that carries rhenium is itself a by-product of porphyry copper mines, mainly in Chile and the United States. Copper mine plans therefore decide how much rhenium-bearing concentrate exists, two steps removed from rhenium buyers.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Rhenium is added to nickel-based single-crystal superalloys for turbine blades, where it improves strength at high temperature. Engine makers buy both metals together; rhenium is a tiny share of the alloy by weight but a large share of its cost risk.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Platinum-rhenium catalysts are used in catalytic reforming units that make high-octane petrol and aromatics. Spent catalysts are recycled to recover rhenium, so refinery catalyst change-outs feed a meaningful secondary supply alongside mine output.
No public price for refining catalysts, so the link is explained in words only.Aircraft engine and gas turbine blades are the largest single use of rhenium. When aircraft orders and engine production rise, demand for rhenium-bearing superalloys rises with them, and engine makers have worked to cut rhenium content after past price spikes.
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.