Other and primary batteries: Correlation
Prices it moves with, and why
Primary batteries, such as alkaline, lithium coin and silver oxide cells, are used once and discarded. Prices depend on zinc, manganese dioxide, lithium, silver and steel cans, but brands and retail margins mean metal swings pass through slowly.
Price index US PPI: primary batteries index · monthly, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026What its price moves with
Selected linkOther and primary batteries and Zinc
Monthly changes -0.04 little or none correlation 12-month changes -0.25 weak correlation Last 5 years -0.35 monthly changes Lead or lag −1 mo Other and primary batteries tends to lead by 1 month (r 0.07) Price function, Jan 2006 to Sep 2026 Other and primary batteries ≈ 41.3 × (Zinc)0.14 R² 0.12 On this fit, a 10% higher zinc price goes with a 1.4% higher other and primary batteries price over the long run. Units: index and $/mt. The fit is loose, so treat the function as a rough guide.Chart: Other and primary batteries and Zinc prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, log scale
Both prices rebased to 100 at Jan 2006, on a log scale so equal percentage moves look the same size.Chart: Other and primary batteries price against Zinc price, monthly, log scales, with fitted line
Each dot is one month; paler dots are older (2006), darker dots recent (2026); the ringed dot is the latest month. The dashed line is the fitted price function. Both axes are logarithmic.Alkaline cells use zinc powder anodes, their main metal cost. The index shows no link to zinc prices, with monthly moves at -0.04 and yearly moves at -0.25, because branded retail prices are rarely changed.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsAlkaline and many lithium primary cells use manganese dioxide cathodes, usually electrolytic grade. Manganese ore is plentiful, but battery-grade dioxide comes from a few plants, mostly in China, which concentrates supply risk.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Silver oxide cells power watches and small devices. Silver is costly, but the amount per cell is small, so the index shows no link, with monthly moves at 0.04 and yearly moves at -0.20.
little or none co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsAlkaline cells use potassium hydroxide electrolyte made by chlor-alkali electrolysis, the same process as caustic soda. The alkalies proxy correlates at 0.22 for monthly moves and 0.52 for yearly moves, partly through shared US chemical inflation.
weak co-movement month to month · 249 months Show chartsLithium coin and cylinder cells use lithium metal anodes for long shelf life. Their cost rises with lithium, but most of their price is casing, packaging and brand, so lithium swings matter less than for rechargeables.
Not enough overlapping price history to measure.Rechargeable lithium cells are replacing disposable batteries in many devices. The two indices correlate at 0.48 for yearly moves but only at 0.01 for monthly moves, reflecting separate products from similar factories.
little or none co-movement month to month · 243 months Show chartsHow 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.