By Todd Neeley
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- After five consecutive weeks of across-the-board, month-over-month increases in retail fertilizer prices, only six of the eight fertilizers tracked by DTN were higher for the third week of October 2018.
Urea recorded the largest month-over-month increase of $21/ton to $405/ton. One year ago, urea prices came in at $340/ton. The second-highest rise in price since last month came from 10-34-0, which grew by $9/ton to $457/ton.
Small increases were seen in UAN32, UAN28, DAP and potash. UAN 32 saw an average price increase of $5/ton to $283/ton from one month ago. UAN 28 and DAP both increased by $4/ton to $243/ton and $498/ton, respectively. Since last month, the average price of potash increased by $3/ton to $365.
The price of anhydrous remained steady at $494/ton since last month, while MAP showed the only price decrease, falling from $520/ton to $518/ton for this update. However, the average anhydrous price is $97 higher than one year ago, while MAP is now $66 higher than last year.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.44/lb.N, anhydrous $0.30/lb.N, UAN28 $0.43/lb.N and UAN32 $0.44/lb.N.
As fertilizer prices continue to rise, the University of Arkansas chemical engineering department announced efforts last week to help farmers develop systems to recycle water and recover nutrients to be reused as fertilizer. The research is funded with a $4.3 million grant from the USDA.
According to a news release, the grant is used to support research on electrochemical processes for treating nutrients in wastewater. The process involves attaching electrodes to a fine membrane as a way to filter or separate nutrients from wastewater and convert them into fertilizer.
You can read more here:
https://news.uark.edu/…
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 |
| Oct 16-20 2017 | 432 | 452 | 348 | 340 |
| Nov 13-17 2017 | 435 | 459 | 342 | 339 |
| Dec 11-15 2017 | 439 | 479 | 343 | 340 |
| Jan 8-12 2018 | 456 | 491 | 346 | 352 |
| Feb 5-9 2018 | 458 | 493 | 344 | 355 |
| Mar 5-9 2018 | 463 | 503 | 349 | 367 |
| Apr 2-6 2018 | 478 | 508 | 352 | 370 |
| Apr 30-May 4 2018 | 485 | 505 | 353 | 368 |
| May 28-June 1 2018 | 483 | 504 | 354 | 364 |
| Jun 25-29 2018 | 485 | 505 | 354 | 364 |
| Jul 23-27 2018 | 486 | 504 | 356 | 366 |
| Aug 20-24 2018 | 487 | 514 | 356 | 364 |
| Sep 17-21 2018 | 494 | 520 | 362 | 384 |
| Oct 15-19 2018 | 498 | 518 | 365 | 405 |
| LIQUID |
| Date Range | 10-34-0 | ANHYD | UAN28 | UAN32 |
| Oct 16-20 2017 | 413 | 397 | 205 | 262 |
| Nov 13-17 2017 | 403 | 410 | 216 | 272 |
| Dec 11-15 2017 | 403 | 434 | 218 | 256 |
| Jan 8-12 2018 | 410 | 479 | 220 | 258 |
| Feb 5-9 2018 | 415 | 492 | 227 | 261 |
| Mar 5-9 2018 | 422 | 499 | 234 | 272 |
| Apr 2-6 2018 | 425 | 508 | 239 | 274 |
| Apr 30-May 4 2018 | 431 | 510 | 241 | 277 |
| May 28-June 1 2018 | 439 | 504 | 241 | 276 |
| Jun 25-29 2018 | 440 | 504 | 242 | 277 |
| Jul 23-27 2018 | 442 | 501 | 243 | 279 |
| Aug 20-24 2018 | 446 | 481 | 233 | 271 |
| Sep 17-21 2018 | 448 | 494 | 239 | 278 |
| Oct 15-19 2018 | 457 | 494 | 243 | 283 |
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @toddneeleyDTN
(KD/BAS)
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