By Russ Quinn
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- Average retail prices for most fertilizers continued to move higher as 2017 drew to a close, according to retailers surveyed by DTN.
Seven of the eight major fertilizers were higher the fourth week of December compared to a month earlier. Anhydrous was 12% more expensive compared to last month and had an average price of $468 per ton. MAP was 6% higher, as well, with an average price of $488/ton.
The remaining five fertilizers were higher compared to the prior month, though none were up by a significant amount. DAP had an average price of $448/ton, potash $344/ton, urea $348/ton, 10-34-0 $407/ton and UAN28 $216/ton.
Just one fertilizer was lower from the previous month. UAN32 was 6% lower compared to last month. The nitrogen fertilizer had an average price of $254/ton.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.38/lb.N, anhydrous $0.29/lb.N, UAN28 $0.39/lb.N and UAN32 $0.40/lb.N.
A new year brings new acquisitions in the Midwest retail fertilizer industry. South Dakota Wheat Growers, based in Aberdeen, South Dakota, announced on Tuesday that it has purchased a 40,000 ton dry fertilizer facility located in Kimball, which had been previously owned by Gavilon Fertilizer, LLC.
According to a company news release, the Kimball plant will become the largest-capacity dry fertilizer plant in the Wheat Growers cooperative. The company currently has six hub fertilizer plants located in Bath, Huron, Kennebec, McLaughlin, Oakes and Wolsey, which was the largest facility with 31,200 tons of dry fertilizer storage.
This acquisition comes less than a month before Wheat Growers, a cooperative with 40 locations, forms a new cooperative by merging with North Central Farmers Elevator, a 22-location cooperative headquartered in Ipswich.
"As we anticipate becoming a new cooperative on Feb. 1, the addition of this state-of-the-art fertilizer plant allows us to very efficiently provide fertilizer to our farmers," said Wheat Growers CEO Chris Pearson.
"It also opens the door to new opportunities in our South region by significantly increasing our storage capacity and expanding product availability to producers along the I-90 corridor. This will be key for our producers in that region."
The Kimball plant also includes access to a 110-car-unit loop-track, plus high-speed automated fertilizer loadout and storage capabilities.
Five fertilizers are now higher compared to last year. Anhydrous is 1% more expensive, both DAP and urea are 4% higher, potash is 7% more expensive and MAP is now 10% higher.
The remaining three fertilizers are still lower compared to a year prior. Both UAN28 and UAN32 are 1% lower, while 10-34-0 is 9% less expensive.
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 |
| 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 |
| Aug 7-11 2017 | 434 | 462 | 339 | 311 |
| Sep 4-8 2017 | 431 | 458 | 338 | 302 |
| Oct 2-6 2017 | 425 | 453 | 348 | 323 |
| Oct 27-Nov 3 2017 | 434 | 455 | 348 | 330 |
| Nov 27-Dec 1 2017 | 435 | 460 | 342 | 340 |
| Dec 25-29 2017 | 448 | 488 | 344 | 348 |
| LIQUID |
| Date Range | 10-34-0 | ANHYD | UAN28 | UAN32 |
| 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 |
| Aug 7-11 2017 | 440 | 419 | 224 | 258 |
| Sep 4-8 2017 | 418 | 413 | 215 | 248 |
| Oct 2-6 2017 | 413 | 399 | 208 | 243 |
| Oct 27-Nov 3 2017 | 405 | 401 | 208 | 262 |
| Nov 27-Dec 1 2017 | 403 | 417 | 216 | 271 |
| Dec 25-29 2017 | 407 | 468 | 216 | 254 |
Russ Quinn can be reached at [email protected]
Follow Russ Quinn on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN
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