By Russ Quinn
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- For the second straight week, retail fertilizer prices are showing significant movement after five months of holding mostly steady, according to fertilizer retailers surveyed by DTN. Prices for all eight of the major fertilizers were lower the second week of July 2017 compared to a month earlier.
As the fertilizer application season wraps up for this growing season, retail prices are beginning to decrease with lower demand.
Anhydrous is 10% lower compared to last month while urea is 5% less expensive. Anhydrous had an average price of $451 per ton while urea was at $321/ton.
The remaining six fertilizers had just slightly lower prices compared to last month. DAP had an average price of $436/ton, MAP $467/ton, potash $340/ton, 10-34-0 $431/ton, UAN28 $235/ton and UAN32 $268/ton.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.35/lb.N, anhydrous $0.28/lb.N, UAN28 $0.42/lb.N and UAN32 $0.42/lb.N.
Retailers report fertilizer prices are pushing lower as the application season wraps up and as retailers prepare to refill their fertilizer stocks. Steve Lias, general manager of Farmers Elevator Company located in Humboldt, South Dakota, told DTN nitrogen products in particular are moving lower right now.
"I think we are seeing urea and other nitrogen products significantly lower because of the new domestic supplies we now have in place," Lias said. "We pull from Port Neal's (Iowa) new facilities, and we do our own hauling now."
Lias said he thinks some retailers may hold off on their summer fill activities for a bit just to see how low prices fall. The danger of this, of course, is prices could always go the other direction, he said.
Longer term, Lias said, he believes nitrogen does not have much upside pressure while phosphorus fertilizers could hang around at their current levels.
"I think if there is one fertilizer which could be higher come fall it might be potash," he said. "We are already so low I could easily see a $20-per-ton increase to the price by then."
Prices of all retail fertilizers are lower compared to a year earlier. Five of the eight major fertilizers are double digits lower.
10-34-0 is 20% lower from a year ago while anhydrous is 17% less expensive, UAN32 is 13% lower, UAN28 is 12% less expensive and urea is 11% less expensive. DAP is 7% lower, MAP is 6% less expensive and potash is 5% lower.
DTN collects roughly 1,700 retail fertilizer bids from 310 retailer locations weekly. Not all fertilizer prices change each week. Prices are subject to change at any time.
DTN Pro Grains subscribers can find current retail fertilizer price in the DTN Fertilizer Index on the Fertilizer page under Farm Business.
Retail fertilizer charts dating back to 2010 are available in the DTN fertilizer segment. The charts included cost of N/lb., DAP, MAP, potash, urea, 10-34-0, anhydrous, UAN28 and UAN32.
DTN's average of retail fertilizer prices from a month earlier ($ per ton):
| DRY |
| Date Range | DAP | MAP | POTASH | UREA |
| July 11-15 2016 | 467 | 496 | 358 | 360 |
| Aug 8-12 2016 | 453 | 482 | 344 | 345 |
| Sept 5-9 2016 | 446 | 464 | 325 | 325 |
| Oct 3-7 2016 | 438 | 451 | 312 | 315 |
| Oct 31-Nov 4 2016 | 436 | 451 | 314 | 319 |
| Nov 28-Dec 2 2016 | 435 | 445 | 318 | 331 |
| Dec 26-30 2016 | 431 | 443 | 321 | 336 |
| Jan 23-27 2017 | 429 | 443 | 322 | 347 |
| Feb 20-24 2017 | 433 | 452 | 332 | 359 |
| Mar 20-24 2017 | 438 | 464 | 338 | 356 |
| Apr 17-21 2017 | 438 | 466 | 339 | 352 |
| May 15-19 2017 | 437 | 471 | 340 | 350 |
| Jun 12-16 2017 | 437 | 470 | 341 | 338 |
| Jul 10-14 2017 | 436 | 467 | 340 | 321 |
| LIQUID |
| Date Range | 10-34-0 | ANHYD | UAN28 | UAN32 |
| July 11-15 2016 | 538 | 547 | 266 | 306 |
| Aug 8-12 2016 | 528 | 522 | 249 | 299 |
| Sept 5-9 2016 | 478 | 502 | 228 | 274 |
| Oct 3-7 2016 | 454 | 472 | 224 | 263 |
| Oct 31-Nov 4 2016 | 452 | 471 | 244 | 262 |
| Nov 28-Dec 2 2016 | 447 | 465 | 217 | 256 |
| Dec 26-30 2016 | 437 | 466 | 217 | 254 |
| Jan 23-27 2017 | 436 | 480 | 235 | 268 |
| Feb 20-24 2017 | 440 | 490 | 241 | 276 |
| Mar 20-24 2017 | 441 | 507 | 248 | 280 |
| Apr 17-21 2017 | 437 | 509 | 247 | 280 |
| May 15-19 2017 | 436 | 510 | 248 | 283 |
| Jun 12-16 2017 | 435 | 500 | 246 | 278 |
| Jul 10-14 2017 | 431 | 451 | 235 | 268 |
Russ Quinn can be reached at [email protected]
Follow Russ Quinn on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN
(AG/SK)
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