DTN Retail Fertilizer Trends

Most Fertilizer Prices Up From Previous Month During First Full Week of February 2022

Russ Quinn
By  Russ Quinn , DTN Staff Reporter
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In recent weeks, the average retail price of UAN28 was at or above $600 per ton. This is the first time UAN28 has ever been above $600 per ton in DTN's dataset. (DTN chart)

OMAHA (DTN) -- Retail fertilizer prices continued to be mostly higher the first full week of February 2022, according to sellers surveyed by DTN. All but one of the major fertilizers were higher compared to last month.

Seven of the eight major fertilizers were slightly higher, although none were up a considerable amount. DTN designates a significant move as anything 5% or more.

DAP had an average price of $876 per ton compared to last month, MAP $935/ton, potash $815/ton, 10-34-0 $827/ton, anhydrous $1,487/ton (all-time high), UAN28 $600/ton and UAN32 $699/ton (all-time high).

In recent weeks, UAN28 was at or above $600/ton. This is the first time UAN28 has ever been above $600/ton in our dataset.

One fertilizer was lower in price from the previous month. Urea was slightly lower with an average price of $905/ton.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.98/lb.N, anhydrous $0.91/lb.N, UAN28 $1.07/lb.N and UAN32 $1.09/lb.N.

Perspective is an interesting thing and sometimes we gain a new perspective being away from something for a while. As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't written this column the past couple of weeks.

Now that I'm back writing the column, I noticed immediately the percentages of fertilizer price increases for all eight major fertilizers are way lower than three weeks ago. I wondered why this was the case.

Retail fertilizer prices are not any lower in price, so how could the percentages change that much in just few weeks?

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In the last week of January, fertilizer prices ranged from 69% to 202% higher from the previous week. This week, the range was "only" 46% to 184%.

I went back and looked to see what happened between the third week of January 2021 and the first week of February 2021. As you might recall, fertilizer prices were on a steady rise, but there was a big jump in prices in the last couple weeks of January and first week of February.

The third week of January 2021, DAP was $493/ton, MAP $563/ton, potash $379, urea $387/ton, 10-34-0 $481/ton, anhydrous $482/ton, UAN28 $215/ton and UAN32 $251/ton.

Two weeks later, prices really had taken off higher. DAP was $554/ton, DAP $601/ton, potash $389, urea $429/ton, 10-34-0 $502/ton, anhydrous $507/ton, UAN28 $239/ton and UAN32 $272/ton.

So, the percentages of price changes looking back a full year are much less for the first week of February compared to the third week of January 2021 because of the large price increase happening last year at the end of January.

Translation: Fertilizer prices have now been high for a full calendar year, so the percentages higher are not as great as they had been.

I thought that was kind of interesting. Of course, I have been writing about fertilizer prices for 12 years now ... what do I know about interesting?

Most fertilizers continue to be considerably higher in price than one year earlier.

MAP is now 46% more expensive, DAP is 49% higher, 10-34-0 is 61% more expensive, urea is 100% higher, potash is 105% more expensive, UAN32 is 145% higher, UAN28 147% is more expensive and anhydrous is 184% higher compared to last year.

DTN surveys more than 300 retailers, gathering roughly 1,700 fertilizer price bids, to compile the DTN Fertilizer Index each week. In addition to national averages, MyDTN subscribers can access the full DTN Fertilizer Index, which includes state averages, here: https://www.mydtn.com/….

The recent DTN Global Fertilizer Outlook series focused attention to what the world expectation could be in 2022. This series examined the supply and demand of nutrients globally as well as what direction fertilizer prices could go in the New Year.

Read the nitrogen outlook here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Read the phosphorus outlook here:

https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Read the potash outlook here:

https://www.dtnpf.com/…

DRY
Date Range DAP MAP POTASH UREA
Feb 8-12 2021 588 642 398 453
Mar 8-12 2021 615 690 423 483
Apr 5-9 2021 618 699 431 504
May 3-7 2021 634 705 436 514
May 31-Jun 4 2021 652 712 443 524
Jun 28-Jul 2 2021 677 721 476 542
Jul 26-30 2021 695 753 549 554
Aug 23-27 2021 697 756 569 557
Sep 20-24 2021 709 786 625 585
Oct 18-22 2021 810 863 716 735
Nov 15-19 2021 825 911 769 859
Dec 13-17 2021 858 935 796 901
Jan 10-14 2022 863 932 807 913
Feb 7-11 2022 876 935 815 905
LIQUID
Date Range 10-34-0 ANHYD UAN28 UAN32
Feb 8-12 2021 512 524 243 285
Mar 8-12 2021 581 625 306 344
Apr 5-9 2021 605 692 341 378
May 3-7 2021 618 712 358 398
May 31-Jun 4 2021 619 719 363 412
Jun 28-Jul 2 2021 625 730 366 421
Jul 26-30 2021 631 737 365 419
Aug 23-27 2021 632 748 370 420
Sep 20-24 2021 633 772 383 436
Oct 18-22 2021 659 940 451 492
Nov 15-19 2021 739 1220 571 651
Dec 13-17 2021 790 1420 579 663
Jan 10-14 2022 796 1430 584 679
Feb 7-11 2022 827 1487 600 699

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

Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN

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Russ Quinn