By Russ Quinn
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- Retail fertilizer prices continued to be mostly higher the second week of April 2020, according to retailers surveyed by DTN. The recent trend, which is still in place, features extremely slight price moves.
Seven fertilizers were slightly higher in price compared to last month. DAP has an average price of $410/ton, potash $370/ton, urea $384/ton, 10-34-0 $468/ton, anhydrous $492/ton, UAN28 $236/ton and UAN32 $279/ton.
The remaining fertilizer had a slightly lower price looking back to a month earlier. MAP had an average price of $433/ton.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.42/lb.N, anhydrous $0.30/lb.N, UAN28 $0.42/lb.N and UAN32 $0.44/lb.N.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on nearly everything in the world, including the fertilizer industry. While fertilizer businesses continue to operate as an essential industry across the globe, the virus is causing changes to how companies operate.
One example would be Australian fertilizer manufacturer Incitec Pivot Limited. The company pulled out of a deal to sell its Asia Pacific fertilizer business amid the uncertainty created by the coronavirus, according to Dow Jones on Monday.
Incitec, which manufactures, imports and distributes urea and ammonia in Australia, said it was calling off talks with potential buyers of the business following a strategic review. Those discussions had followed Incitec's decision to explore a sale in early September 2019.
Considering how fast the situation has changed with the pandemic, the demise of this deal will probably not be the only change of plans by fertilizer businesses in the coming weeks and months.
Retail fertilizers are now all lower in price from a year ago. Both DAP and MAP are 19% lower, anhydrous is 17% less expensive, UAN28 is 13% lower, UAN32 is 12% less expensive, both potash and urea are 5% lower and 10-34-0 is 3% less expensive 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| LIQUID |
| Date Range | 10-34-0 | ANHYD | UAN28 | UAN32 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Russ Quinn can be reached at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN
(BE/BAS)
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