DTN Retail Fertilizer Trends
All Fertilizer Prices Decline
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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