DTN Retail Fertilizer Trends

All Fertilizer Prices Decline

Russ Quinn
By  Russ Quinn , DTN Staff Reporter
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Over the past six months, the average retail price of DAP declined by $39/ton. It's also 18% less expensive than at the same time last year. (DTN Chart)

OMAHA (DTN) -- Retail fertilizer prices tracked by DTN for the second week of June 2020 are all lower compared to the previous month.

While all fertilizers are lower, only one fertilizer had a significant price move, which DTN designates as anything over 5%. Urea was 6% lower with an average price of $367/ton.

The remaining seven fertilizers were lower in price compared to last month but not substantially. DAP has an average price of $406/ton, down $7; MAP $430/ton, down $3; potash $363/ton, down $7; 10-34-0 $468/ton, down less than $1; anhydrous $472/ton, down $20; UAN28 $235/ton, down $2; and UAN32 $276/ton, down $4.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.40/lb.N, anhydrous $0.29/lb.N, UAN28 $0.42/lb.N and UAN32 $0.43/lb.N.

With retail fertilizer prices on the decline, I thought it would be interesting to break down the prices even more to see what trends we can discover. While it is interesting to compare back a full year, I also like to see where prices have been in a shorter time frame, just three and six months ago.

Comparing prices from the second week of June to the second of March (three months ago) shows prices have dropped for some fertilizers but not so much for others.

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Three fertilizers saw larger price declines from March to June. Anhydrous had the largest price decrease at $18/ton. Urea was down $10/ton, and potash had a $7/ton price decline.

The price for DAP, MAP, 10-34-0, UAN28 and UAN32 ranged from the same (UAN28 $235/ton) to just $2/ton less (MAP, 10-34-0 and UAN32).

Looking at retail prices from Dec. 2019 to June 2020 (six months) shows more dramatic prices declines for most fertilizers.

DAP and MAP decreased the most at $39/ton and $33/ton, respectively. Other large price declines include anhydrous dropping $17/ton, potash declining $15/ton and urea falling $13/ton.

The remaining three fertilizers had smaller price decreases over the six months. UAN32 had an average price of $276/ton at both points of time, 10-34-0 fell $2/ton and UAN28 only decreased by $4/ton during this time.

Retailers have told me last year fertilizer prices never really decreased after the spring demand rise, and thus prices were higher during most of 2019.

After taking a closer look at the prices over the last six months you can see there was no spring price rise in 2020. There were weeks when some fertilizers were slightly higher but no large across the board increases this spring.

Knowing this, it will be interesting to see where retail fertilizer prices move in rest of the year. There could many more weeks of slightly lower or higher prices in our future.

Retail fertilizers are all lower in price from a year ago. Anhydrous is 20% lower, both DAP and MAP are 18% less expensive, urea is 16% lower, UAN28 is 13% less expensive, UAN32 is 12% lower, potash is 7% less expensive and 10-34-0 is 4% lower from last year at this time.

DTN collects roughly 1,700 retail fertilizer bids from 310 retailer locations weekly. Not all fertilizer prices change each week. Prices are subject to change at any time.

DTN Pro Grains subscribers can find current retail fertilizer price in the DTN Fertilizer Index on the Fertilizer page under Farm Business.

Retail fertilizer charts dating back to 2010 are available in the DTN fertilizer segment. The charts included cost of N/lb., DAP, MAP, potash, urea, 10-34-0, anhydrous, UAN28 and UAN32.

DRY
Date Range DAP MAP POTASH UREA
Jun 10-14 2019 497 527 392 434
Jul 8-12, 2019 497 532 392 431
Aug 5-9 2019 495 531 395 428
Sep 2-6 2019 491 488 387 408
Sep 30-Oct 4, 2019 476 474 384 404
Oct 28-Nov 1 2019 464 472 383 402
Nov 25-29 2019 456 465 381 386
Dec 23-27 2019 443 454 377 378
Jan 20-24 2020 413 435 374 357
Feb 17-21 2020 410 435 373 361
Mar 16-20 2020 408 433 370 382
Apr 13-17 2020 410 433 370 384
May 11-15 2020 413 433 370 388
Jun 8-12 2020 406 430 363 367
Liquid
Date Range 10-34-0 ANHYD UAN28 UAN32
Jun 10-14 2019 487 591 271 314
Jul 8-12, 2019 485 585 276 317
Aug 5-9 2019 491 580 272 320
Sep 2-6 2019 473 522 255 290
Sep 30-Oct 4, 2019 470 511 253 289
Oct 28-Nov 1 2019 468 503 251 291
Nov 25-29 2019 472 497 245 277
Dec 23-27 2019 469 488 240 276
Jan 20-24 2020 470 487 237 275
Feb 17-21 2020 464 490 235 277
Mar 16-20 2020 466 491 235 278
Apr 13-17 2020 468 492 236 279
May 11-15 2020 468 492 237 280
Jun 8-12 2020 468 472 235 276

Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN

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Russ Quinn