DTN Retail Fertilizer Trends
Prices for Most Fertilizers Continue Higher
OMAHA (DTN) -- Average retail fertilizer prices continue to be mostly higher the fourth week of December 2020, according to sellers surveyed by DTN. Seven of the eight major fertilizers are higher from the previous month.
Prices for three fertilizers increased a significant amount, which DTN designates as 5% or more. Anhydrous was 9% more expensive compared to the prior month with an average price of $461 per ton.
Both MAP and potash were 8% higher in price looking back to last month. MAP had an average price of $535/ton while potash $365/ton.
Four fertilizers were just slightly higher in price compared to prior month. DAP had an average price of $474/ton, urea $363/ton, 10-34-0 $463/ton and UAN32 $250/ton.
The remaining fertilizer, UAN28, was unchanged in price from last month. The nitrogen fertilizer had an average price of $210/ton.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.39/lb.N, anhydrous $0.28/lb.N, UAN28 $0.37/lb.N and UAN32 $0.39/lb.N.
The end of the year is when many farmers will buy inputs for year-end tax planning purposes. Among the items they will buy is fertilizer for the next growing season.
Jay Leeper, a farmer from Alva, Oklahoma, told DTN he locked in some nitrogen fertilizer for his wheat crop. He will top dress his winter wheat with UAN28 in the February-March timeframe.
Leeper has some on-farm storage for fertilizer, which gives him added flexibility. He utilizes the storage so he can take advantage of a better price by having it delivered over just pre-ordering nutrients.
"What I'm going to store is UAN28 because it will not salt out like UAN32 and freeze," Leeper said.
Retail fertilizer prices continue to be mostly lower in price from a year ago, but there are a couple exceptions. DAP is 7% higher while MAP is 18% more expensive compared to last year.
10-34-0 is 1% less expensive, potash is 3% lower, urea is 4% less expensive, anhydrous is 6% lower, UAN32 is 9% less expensive and UAN28 is 13% 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 |
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 |
Jul 6-10 2020 | 405 | 427 | 360 | 360 |
Aug 3-7 2020 | 416 | 430 | 357 | 354 |
Aug 31-Sep 4 2020 | 431 | 442 | 348 | 361 |
Sep 28-Oct 2 2020 | 439 | 459 | 338 | 362 |
Oct 26-30 2020 | 448 | 477 | 332 | 358 |
Nov 23-27 2020 | 456 | 495 | 337 | 359 |
Dec 21-25 2020 | 474 | 535 | 365 | 363 |
LIQUID | ||||
Date Range | 10-34-0 | ANHYD | UAN28 | UAN32 |
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 |
Jul 6-10 2020 | 467 | 461 | 233 | 272 |
Aug 3-7 2020 | 465 | 455 | 222 | 262 |
Aug 31-Sep 4 2020 | 459 | 436 | 216 | 254 |
Sep 28-Oct 2 2020 | 457 | 424 | 212 | 250 |
Oct 26-30 2020 | 456 | 423 | 209 | 249 |
Nov 23-27 2020 | 457 | 424 | 210 | 249 |
Dec 21-25 2020 | 463 | 461 | 210 | 250 |
Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN
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