# Wollastonite: Correlation Prices it moves with, and why Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/correlation/ Wollastonite is a calcium silicate mineral mined in China, India, the United States and Mexico. It is used in ceramics, plastics, paints, friction products and metallurgical fluxes, often as an asbestos replacement. Prices are set privately by grade and particle shape. No public price Wollastonite has no public monthly price series: Priced privately by grade and fibre size; no public monthly index. #### What its price moves with Commodity [Asb Asbestos](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/asbestos/)Replaces Needle-shaped wollastonite fibres reinforce brake pads, fibre-cement boards and insulating products that once used asbestos. Bans on asbestos in many countries created much of wollastonite demand, and further bans would add more. No public price for asbestos, so the link is explained in words only. Commodity [Tlc Talc](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/)Competing filler In plastics and paints, wollastonite competes with talc, kaolin and calcium carbonate as a functional filler. Its long fibres give extra stiffness, so it wins where strength matters and loses where cheapness matters. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [Kao Kaolin & clays](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/clays/)Ceramic partner Ceramic tile and sanitaryware makers add wollastonite to clay bodies because it lowers firing temperatures and reduces shrinkage. That saves kiln fuel, so high energy prices can raise demand for it. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Chemical [Pnt Paints and coatings](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/paints_coatings/)Main use Wollastonite is used as an extender in paints and coatings, improving durability and reducing the need for more expensive pigments. Coatings demand from construction and industry follows the building cycle. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Commodity [St Steel](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/steel/)Flux use Steelmakers use wollastonite in mould powders for continuous casting and as a flux. Steel output therefore sets this metallurgical demand, which favours lower-cost grades and competes with other fluxes such as fluorspar and synthetic calcium silicates. Not enough overlapping price history to measure. Energy [ICV Combustion road vehicles](https://www.materialinsights.org/energy/e_road_ice/)Demand driver Brake pads and reinforced plastic car parts are important wollastonite uses. Vehicle production, both combustion and electric, therefore sets a large share of demand for friction and polymer grades, though electric cars brake less often with their friction pads. 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/wollastonite/index.md) - [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/overview/index.md) - [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/extraction/index.md) - [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/production/index.md) - [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/stocks/index.md) - [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/cycles/index.md) - [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/trading/index.md) - [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/movement/index.md) - [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/criticality/index.md) - [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/characteristics/index.md) - [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/emissions/index.md) - [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/wollastonite/links/index.md)