DTN Retail Fertilizer Trends

OMAHA (DTN) -- Retail fertilizer prices continue to be mixed which has been the trend in several months now, according to prices tracked by DTN for the second week of March 2020.

Five fertilizers were lower in price compared to last month but none were down a sizeable amount. DAP had an average price of $407/ton, MAP $432/ton, potash $370/ton, anhydrous $490/ton and UAN28 $235/ton.

The remaining three fertilizers, meanwhile, had a minor price increase looking back to last month. Urea had an average price of $377/ton, 10-34-0 $466/ton and UAN32 $278/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 $0.42/lb.N and UAN32 $0.44/lb.N.

With the calendar well into March, farmers are finishing up their fertilizer plans for the rapidly approaching spring planting season. For some, their application season began last fall after harvest.

For others, however, it was a wet fall with little fieldwork done and little fertilizer applied. Jeremy Flikkema, farmer from Lanark, Illinois, said he would normally apply roughly 75% of his anhydrous in the fall but because of wet conditions seen last fall he only applied about 5% to 10% of anhydrous.

"We were extremely wet in the fall," Flikkema told DTN. "We are drier now and we will put anhydrous on still this spring."

Flikkema said he looks to buy his nitrogen needs early in the year for fall application if there are some deals to be had. This year nitrogen prices look to be moving contra-seasonally for some reason but he still bought the nutrient, he said.

The spring nitrogen application season could be a challenging one in his area of northwestern Illinois. A lot of nitrogen will have to be applied in the spring which makes for an extremely busy time period, he said.

"We will see seem logistical issues," he said.

His plan is to start applying anhydrous as soon as it is dry enough. However, he speculates it will be a battle to get the fertilizer applied this spring.

Retail fertilizers are now all lower in price from a year ago. DAP is 20% lower, MAP is 19% less expensive, anhydrous is 18% lower, both UAN28 and UAN32 are 13% less expensive, urea is 6% lower, potash is 4% less expensive and 10-34-0 is 1% lower 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.

Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN

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