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Fertilizer prices dropping, especially anhydrous ammonia

An ag economist says fertilizer prices have decreased significantly since spring with anhydrous ammonia leading the drop.

USDA data shows anhydrous ammonia prices in Illinois went from $500 per ton to $600 per ton at the beginning of 2019. David Widmar with Agriculture Economic Insights tells Brownfield in the past few weeks that has dropped below $500.

“Anhydrous ammonia prices have fallen about 22% from the spring prices relative to only 8% lower for urea and 10% lower for liquid 28%.”

Widmar says producers should watch those relative prices and might want to consider different options, such as switching to anhydrous ammonia to lower input costs.

“So maybe there are some opportunities to pre-pay or look at application options given the currently low prices, especially when we look at the last 10 years.”

Widmar says the increase in intended corn acres for 2019 helped drive the prices up at the beginning of the year and falling commodity prices could be contributing to the decline. He says intended corn acres for 2020 will determine if prices shift in the new year.