DTN Fertilizer Trends: Prices Continue to Skyrocket

Retail fertilizer prices continue to skyrocket higher, according to locations tracked by DTN for the third week of November 2021. As has been the case for months now, all eight of the major fertilizers were higher.

Seven of the eight fertilizers recorded a considerable move higher compared to last month. DTN designates a significant move as anything 5% or more.

Leading the way higher was UAN32, which was up a whopping 32% from a month prior. The liquid nitrogen fertilizer’s average price was at $651/ton, which continues to be an all-time high in the DTN data set.

Anhydrous was 30% more expensive compared to last month with the average price at $1,220/ton; this is also an all-time high. UAN28 was 27% higher, looking back a month with the average price of $571/ton, also an all-time high.

Urea was 17% more expensive compared to last month with an average price of $859/ton, again an all-time high with DTN data. 10-34-0 was 12% more expense looking back to last month with an average price of $739/ton.

A couple fertilizers were “only” single digits higher. Potash was 8% high compared to last month and had an average price of $769/ton. MAP was up 6% from last month and had an average price of $911/ton.

One fertilizer, DAP, had just a slight price increase. The phosphorus fertilizer had average price of $825/ton.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.93/lb.N, anhydrous $0.74/lb.N, UAN28 $1.02/lb.N and UAN32 $1.02/lb.N.

With high fertilizer prices, corn producers could be thinking about what practices they could employ with their fertilizer plan to become even more efficient. In a post to the Minnesota Crop News blog titled “High Nitrogen Fertilizer Costs: What Should Corn Growers be Thinking About?”, authors Brad Carlson and Fabian Fernandez explore the topic (here).

The pair made a Top 5 list of taking nitrogen fertilizer into consideration for the 2022 growing season.

The first suggestion was for Minnesota corn producers to make sure they are complying with the state’s nitrogen fertilizer rule. There are areas of the state in which nitrogen can only be applied in the spring.

Another recommendation was a lower nitrogen rate makes sense at the current price ratio. The current ratio (the cost of N fertilizer to the price of corn) is 0.16, with a long-term average of 0.10 price ratio.

AgFax Weed Solutions Unable to display feed at this time.

“Our current N rate tables show an average recommendation of 165 lbs. N/acre for corn-following-corn and 130 lbs. N/acre for corn-following-soybeans at the 0.10 price ratio,” they wrote. “At the 0.15 ratio, the recommended N rate drops to 150 lbs. N/acre for corn-following-corn and 115 lbs. N/acre for corn-following soybeans.”

A couple suggestions were related to the dry conditions Minnesota saw this growing season. One was to test for residual N to see if you can take an N credit and the other one was to take the dry 2021 growing season into consideration.

The last recommendation from University of Minnesota Extension was that 2022 could be a good year for applying N in-season. This practice gives farmers more time to make more informed fertilizer decisions, the article said.

Retail fertilizer prices compared to a year ago show all have increased significantly, with several fertilizers having well-over 100% price increases.

10-34-0 is now 62% more expensive, DAP is 81% higher, MAP is 86% more expensive, potash is 129% higher, urea is 140% more expensive, UAN32 is 161% higher, UAN28 176% is more expensive and anhydrous is 188% higher compared to last year.

DTN surveys more than 300 retailers, gathering roughly 1,700 fertilizer price bids, to compile the DTN Fertilizer Index each week. In addition to national averages, MyDTN subscribers can access the full DTN Fertilizer Index, which includes state averages, here.

Retail fertilizer prices continue to climb higher, led higher by four fertilizers at all-time high prices. You can read it here.

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

Follow him on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN