Fertilizer Prices Rising
It appears we've seen the lows of the 2010 fertilizer prices. Prices for both Nitrogen and Phosphates have firmed up and started to increase as global demand has increased and the growing season draws closer. U.S. inventories were very low following the market slide of last year while wholesalers and retailers alike hesitated to take positions until end users started to commit.
Are these good fertilizer prices? Without a doubt, they're better than what we saw last year at this time, but corn prices are lower too. So the only way to answer the question of "good" prices are to consider the combination of input expenses to expected income from the sale of your grain.
Our sales team keeps an updated "break even" cost based upon current prices. This may be helpful in your grain marketing decisions because the best way to manage price risk is to lock in a profit.