Yttrium: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Yttrium is a heavy rare earth found in ionic clays and xenotime, refined almost entirely in China. Its oxide goes into zirconia ceramics, thermal barrier coatings, phosphors and lasers. Prices follow Chinese supply policy and export controls more than demand.
No public price Yttrium has no public monthly price series: Refined mainly in China on private deals; no public monthly price series.What its price moves with
Yttrium is separated alongside other rare earths, mainly in southern China and from ores mined in Myanmar. Quotas, environmental crackdowns and export licensing in China therefore move yttrium supply together with the rest of the rare earth group.
No public price for rare earths, so the link is explained in words only.Yttria-stabilised zirconia is a tough ceramic for dental crowns, oxygen sensors, cutting tools and coatings. Demand for yttrium follows these zirconia uses, and buyers need both materials in the same product.
No public price for zirconium, so the link is explained in words only.Thermal barrier coatings of yttria-stabilised zirconia protect gas turbine and jet engine blades, letting them run hotter. When export controls tightened yttrium supply, coating makers outside China faced shortages and higher costs.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Solid oxide fuel cells and electrolysers use yttria-stabilised zirconia as the electrolyte that carries oxygen ions. Growth in these devices for clean power and hydrogen would add steady demand for yttrium oxide.
No public price for fuel cells, so the link is explained in words only.Yttrium compounds were key phosphors in fluorescent lamps and older displays, and still feature in white LED phosphors. The move from fluorescent lamps to LEDs cut this demand sharply and left surplus yttrium for years.
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.