US retail urea falls 12% to $731/t in third week of June — first broad price retreat since February
U.S. retail urea prices fell 12% to an average of $731 per ton in the third week of June, leading a broad pullback in domestic fertilizer prices for the second consecutive week, according to data tracked by DTN. It is the first sustained two-week decline in retail prices since the first week of February, before the Strait of Hormuz crisis began sharply driving up costs.
UAN32 fell 7% to $544 per ton, the second-largest move among the eight major fertilizers DTN tracks weekly. Four other products posted smaller declines: MAP averaged $910 per ton, 10-34-0 averaged $723 per ton, anhydrous ammonia averaged $1,091 per ton, and UAN28 averaged $511 per ton. DAP and potash were the only fertilizers to move higher, with DAP averaging $955 per ton and potash at $494 per ton. On a price-per-pound-of-nitrogen basis, urea now costs $0.79/lb.N, the cheapest nitrogen source among the four DTN tracks.
Despite the recent declines, every fertilizer DTN tracks remains higher than a year ago. Anhydrous ammonia leads the year-over-year increase at 41%, followed by UAN28 at 23%, MAP at 15%, DAP at 13%, and urea at 12%. Potash shows the smallest annual increase at 4%, reflecting its relative insulation from the nitrogen-heavy disruption that followed the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in February.
Source: DTN
What to know about the U.S. retail price retreat
Retail prices typically lag wholesale and futures markets by several weeks because distributors carry inventory bought at earlier, higher prices. Wholesale urea futures peaked in April and have since fallen sharply on the Hormuz ceasefire and China’s return to exports, but it has taken until late June for that relief to fully reach farm-gate pricing.
Phosphate supply has remained tighter than nitrogen throughout the Hormuz disruption, since the Persian Gulf accounts for a larger share of global sulfur and ammonia feedstock used in DAP production than it does of finished urea capacity. Potash, sourced predominantly from Canada, has been comparatively insulated from Middle East shipping disruptions, but distributors have been slow to pass through the modest relief seen in wholesale potash markets.
Retail urea is still 12% above year-ago levels and well above the roughly $574/ton average DTN recorded in January 2026, before the Strait of Hormuz closure. Despite the recent two-week decline, the broader trajectory of 2026 retail prices remains elevated relative to the pre-conflict baseline, even as wholesale benchmarks have corrected more sharply.
Growers who delayed nitrogen purchases through the spring price spike are now seeing meaningfully better pricing for sidedress and summer applications. At $0.79 per pound of nitrogen, urea is currently the cheapest nitrogen source DTN tracks, ahead of UAN32 at $0.85/lb.N and UAN28 at $0.91/lb.N.
DTN has not published a forecast beyond its weekly index, but the two-week decline mirrors the broader correction already visible in wholesale urea futures, which have fallen sharply since the Hormuz ceasefire. Whether the retail decline continues will depend on how quickly distributor inventory turns over and how Indian and Chinese demand develop heading into the fall application season.
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