By Russ Quinn
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- Retail fertilizer prices continued to move lower the fourth week of December 2019, according to sellers surveyed by DTN. This several-months-long trend appears set to continue into the new year.
All eight of the major fertilizers were lower in price from the month earlier, but once again, none were substantially lower. DTN designates a significant price move as 5% or more.
DAP had an average price of $443 per ton, MAP $454/ton, potash $377/ton, urea $378/ton, 10-34-0 $469/ton, anhydrous $488/ton, UAN28 $240/ton and UAN32 $276/ton.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.41/lb.N, anhydrous $0.30/lb.N, UAN28 $0.43/lb.N and UAN32 $0.43/lb.N.
With retail fertilizer prices on the decline for several months now, fertilizer retailers are looking forward to where prices could go into the new year. Prices could be fairly steady, retailers report.
Fred Butt, sales agronomist for Donovan Farmers Coop located in Donovan, Illinois, said spring will tell the story of how much anhydrous moves. Some were not being able to apply the fertilizer in the fall due to crops still in the field or wet field conditions.
Despite this potential issue, Butt said he doesn't believe nitrogen prices will move much come spring.
"Anhydrous retail is around the $500s, and UAN is around $0.45/lb. cost of nitrogen with little to drive it up or down," Butt said.
Butt said DAP prices have fallen so much that the Mosaic Company has seen its shares drop on the stock market despite plant shutdowns. (Last week's column had information about this situation: https://www.dtnpf.com/…) Longer term, P will probably trade pretty steadily, even into the spring, he said.
Much like N and P, potash prices will most likely be fairly steady as we head toward spring, as well, Butt added.
"When was the last time P and potash have sold for mostly the same money?" he asked.
Retail fertilizers are mixed in price from a year ago. MAP is 15% lower, anhydrous is 14% less expensive, DAP is 13% lower, UAN28 is 10% less expensive, UAN32 is 9% lower, urea is 7% lower and potash is 1% less expensive from last year at this time. In addition, 10-34-0 is 3% higher compared to last year.
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 24-28 2018 | 507 | 533 | 379 | 407 |
| Jan 21-25 2019 | 512 | 535 | 383 | 409 |
| Feb 18-22 2019 | 512 | 536 | 385 | 404 |
| Mar 18-22 2019 | 509 | 533 | 386 | 401 |
| Apr 15-19 2019 | 504 | 531 | 388 | 404 |
| May 13-17 2019 | 498 | 526 | 392 | 426 |
| 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 |
| LIQUID |
| Date Range | 10-34-0 | ANHYD | UAN28 | UAN32 |
| Dec 24-28 2018 | 457 | 568 | 266 | 303 |
| Jan 21-25 2019 | 467 | 584 | 270 | 313 |
| Feb 18-22 2019 | 470 | 596 | 271 | 317 |
| Mar 18-22 2019 | 470 | 597 | 270 | 318 |
| Apr 15-19 2019 | 481 | 594 | 270 | 317 |
| May 13-17 2019 | 487 | 595 | 267 | 311 |
| 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 |
Russ Quinn can be reached at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN
(AG/SK)
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