Tantalum: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Tantalum is mined mainly in Congo, Rwanda, Brazil and Australia, often from coltan, and sold on private contracts. Capacitors for electronics, superalloys and sputtering targets drive demand, and conflict-mineral rules shape where buyers can source it.
No public price Tantalum has no public monthly price series: Sold on private contracts; no free public series.What its price moves with
Tantalum and niobium occur together in columbite-tantalite (coltan) ores and are separated chemically. Their markets differ, so a mine's economics depend on the mix of the two and on both prices.
No public price for niobium, so the link is explained in words only.Tin slags from smelters and tin-tantalum ores in Brazil and Africa contain recoverable tantalum, so tin production adds tantalum supply as a by-product, largely independent of tantalum prices and demand.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Tantalum capacitors pack high capacitance into tiny volumes for phones, cars and medical devices, tantalum's largest use. They compete with ceramic and aluminium capacitors, which take share when tantalum is dear.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Tantalum strengthens nickel superalloys in jet engine turbine blades, so aircraft build rates add demand. This high-value use competes with electronics for limited supply from a small number of mines.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Tantalum and niobium are separated by dissolving concentrates in hydrofluoric acid, so processors are steady acid buyers. Acid is a small cost, but its hazardous handling limits where processing plants can operate.
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.