Zeolites: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Zeolites are porous aluminosilicates. Natural zeolites are mined for feed additives, cat litter, water treatment and cement, while synthetic zeolites made from sodium silicate and alumina serve detergents and refinery catalysts. Prices are set by grade under private contracts.
No public price Zeolites has no public monthly price series: Many grades sold on private contracts; no public monthly price series.What its price moves with
Synthetic zeolites are crystallised from sodium silicate and sodium aluminate solutions. Sodium silicate price, which follows soda ash and energy costs, therefore feeds directly into the cost of detergent and catalyst zeolites.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Fluid catalytic cracking catalysts are built on synthetic zeolite Y, which breaks heavy oil into petrol and diesel. Refinery throughput and catalyst change-outs drive this high-value zeolite market, which is supplied by a handful of specialist catalyst makers.
No public price for refining catalysts, so the link is explained in words only.Zeolite A replaced phosphates as the builder in many laundry powders, softening water so surfactants clean better. The shift from powders to liquid detergents has cut this demand in richer markets.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Ground natural zeolite can replace part of the clinker in blended cement, reducing energy use and emissions. Pressure to cut cement emissions could expand this use where good deposits sit near cement plants.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Natural zeolites remove ammonium and some heavy metals from water and are used in aquaculture and wastewater plants. This use grows with tighter environmental standards and fish farming output rather than with the general industrial cycle.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Refineries use zeolite catalysts in cracking and other conversion units. Margins and run rates in the refining sector therefore decide how much catalyst is consumed, linking zeolite demand to fuel demand.
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.