Anhydrous Leads Major Fertilizer Prices Lower

OMAHA (DTN) — Average retail fertilizer prices continued to be mostly lower in the third week of January 2024, according to sellers surveyed by DTN.

For the fourth consecutive week, six of the eight major fertilizers were lower in price compared to last month while the remaining two fertilizers were slightly higher. DTN designates a significant move as anything 5% or more.

Only one fertilizer had a significant price change compared to last month. Anhydrous was down 5% compared to last month and had an average price of $770 per ton.

The remaining five fertilizers were down just slightly from the prior month. MAP had an average price of $810 per ton, potash $510/ton, urea $530/ton, UAN28 $334/ton and UAN32 $391/ton.

Two fertilizers, meanwhile, were just slightly higher in price compared to last month. DAP had an average price of $727/ton and 10-34-0 $601/ton.

On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was $0.58/lb.N, anhydrous $0.47/lb.N, UAN28 $0.60/lb.N and UAN32 $0.61/lb.N.

All fertilizers except one are now lower by double digits compared to one year ago. MAP is 6% lower, DAP is 15% less expensive, 10-34-0 is 20% lower, urea is 26% less expensive, potash is 29% lower and anhydrous, UAN28 and UAN32 are all 38% lower compared to a year prior.

USDA will invest $207 million in renewable energy and domestic fertilizer projects, according to a USDA news release. Many of the projects are being funded by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The announcement was made on Monday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the 105th annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.

USDA is awarding $207 million in 42 states for projects through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and the Fertilizer Production Expansion Program (FPEP). Projects financed through FPEP include $50 million for seven projects in seven states.

“President Biden and USDA are ensuring farmers, ranchers and small businesses are not only a part of the clean energy economy, but directly benefitting from it,” Secretary Vilsack said.

DTN did a deep dive into the previous FPEP announcement in March of 2023 (https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2023/03/17/dtn-finds-usda-fertilizer-grant). DTN’s analysis showed eight USDA grants at this time will lead to very little expected fertilizer expansion.

A Saskatchewan-based company is creating a “living lab” to learn about using prairie biomass to generate heat for various industries, including potash mining. You can read about it here: https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2024/01/17/anhydrous-uan32-lead-fertilizer.

DTN gathers fertilizer price bids from agriculture retailers each week to compile the DTN Fertilizer Index. DTN first began reporting data in November 2008.

In addition to national averages, MyDTN subscribers can access the full DTN Fertilizer Index, which includes state averages, here: https://www.mydtn.com/agriculture/web/ag/markets/fuels-fertilizers#!/fertilizers.

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

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