Reviewed August 2026 against ChemAnalyst pricing data, GrainBrief (USDA AMS-sourced), and Mordor Intelligence market research.

Try it: Run your own numbers →

US zinc sulfate (agricultural grade) spot-priced at $971 per metric ton in December 2025, up from $951/MT in September 2025, according to ChemAnalyst’s pricing database. On a retail basis, GrainBrief’s USDA AMS-sourced feed puts wholesale 36% Zn zinc sulfate at $600–$800/ton in the US market. Ammonium sulfate, a related but separate nitrogen-sulfur fertilizer often searched alongside zinc sulfate, spot-priced at $383/MT in June 2026. This page breaks down both price trends, per-acre application costs, and how the two products differ — with a calculator at the end so you can run your own field’s numbers.

Zinc Sulphate Price Trend: The Numbers

The zinc sulphate price trend that matters for US buyers right now is a two-point read: ChemAnalyst’s commodity pricing database recorded US agricultural-grade zinc sulfate at $951/MT in September 2025 and $971/MT in December 2025 — a rise of roughly $20/MT, or about 2%, across the quarter. That’s the spot price tracked at ChemAnalyst’s zinc sulfate pricing page, which updates monthly and quarterly by country.

On the retail side, the picture looks different because it’s a different market layer. GrainBrief’s feed — sourced from USDA AMS data — puts US wholesale/retail zinc sulfate (36% Zn) at $600–$800/ton. That’s not a contradiction with ChemAnalyst’s $971/MT spot figure; it reflects the gap between bulk spot pricing and the blended, packaged, delivered price a retailer or co-op charges a farmer. If you’re budgeting for a purchase, the GrainBrief retail range is the more directly usable number; if you’re tracking the underlying commodity trend, ChemAnalyst’s spot series is the one to watch quarter over quarter.

Neither series is annual-average; both are point-in-time spot reads for specific months. Zinc sulfate pricing moves with zinc metal costs, natural gas and sulfuric acid input costs, and seasonal fertilizer demand cycles tied to planting windows — the same drivers that move ammonium sulfate and other sulfate-based fertilizers, which is one reason the two products get searched together even though they serve different agronomic purposes (zinc sulfate corrects a micronutrient deficiency; ammonium sulfate supplies nitrogen and sulfur as a macronutrient).

Ammonium Sulfate Price: What’s Different

Ammonium sulfate (AMS) is not zinc sulphate — it’s a nitrogen-sulfur fertilizer (21-0-0-24S typical analysis) used as a primary nutrient source, most commonly on corn, wheat, and forage crops, rather than a micronutrient correction. Its spot price in the US market reached $383/MT in June 2026, per market pricing reports tracked on the same ChemAnalyst pricing infrastructure used for zinc sulfate. That figure sits well below zinc sulfate’s per-ton pricing because ammonium sulfate is a high-volume commodity nitrogen source, not a specialty micronutrient input — a fundamentally different cost basis, not a discount version of the same product.

If you searched for “sulphate of ammonia price” expecting a zinc-adjacent number, this is the reason the figures look so different: sulphate of ammonia is the UK/European trade name for the identical compound sold in the US as ammonium sulfate. Same molecule (NH₄)₂SO₄, same $383/MT June 2026 US spot reference point — just a naming convention split across markets.

US Zinc Sulfate & Agricultural Zinc Market Size

The US zinc sulfate market is projected to reach $0.25 billion in 2026, according to Market Research Future’s industry report. That sits inside the broader US micronutrient fertilizer market, where zinc accounts for 31.5% of total micronutrient value in 2025 — the largest single micronutrient share, ahead of boron, manganese, and iron — per Mordor Intelligence’s North America micronutrient fertilizer market research.

Field crops (corn, soybeans, wheat, and other row crops) absorb 87.1% of the US micronutrient market by application share in 2025, also per Mordor Intelligence, which is the segment most relevant to the “agricultural zinc market” and “zinc fertilizer market” searches this page targets — specialty horticulture and turf make up the remainder. On the volume side, US agricultural micronutrient application totaled roughly 310,000 metric tons in 2025, based on USDA and market research aggregated by IMARC Group.

These are market-size and share figures, not production-volume figures. The brief for this article turned up no public US zinc sulfate manufacturing capacity or domestic output-in-tonnes data — if you need that, USGS’s annual Mineral Commodity Summaries for zinc is the standard starting point for US zinc supply-chain volumes, though it reports metal, not the downstream sulfate compound.

Per-Acre Application Costs: Dry vs. Foliar

Cost per acre — not cost per ton — is what actually determines whether a zinc application pencils out, and the two common application methods differ by roughly 3x. Dry zinc sulfate applied at a maintenance rate of 1–2 lbs Zn/acre costs $1.20–$2.70 per acre, per GrainBrief’s cost breakdown. Chelated zinc applied as a foliar spray costs $4–$8 per acre for the same corrective purpose — chelated forms cost more per unit of zinc but deliver faster correction in-season, which is why the earlier discussion of high-pH and calcareous soils favoring chelated forms still holds: you’re paying for speed and availability, not just nutrient content.

For a farm running 1,000 acres of zinc-deficient corn ground, that’s a swing between roughly $1,200–$2,700 for a dry soil-applied program versus $4,000–$8,000 for a full foliar program — a difference that matters more than the underlying $971/MT spot price when you’re deciding which method to budget for. The calculator further down this page runs that math against your own acreage and rate.

Zinc Sulfate vs. Ammonium Sulfate: Side-by-Side

This table is the reference an AI summary can’t hand you in one line — the two products are frequently confused by name but serve entirely different roles in a fertility program.

Zinc Sulfate Cost-Per-Acre Calculator

Enter your acreage, application method, and rate to estimate your total zinc sulfate program cost using the per-acre ranges reported above.

Zinc Deficiency in US Soils: What the Data Shows

47% of US cropland soils tested showed zinc deficiency in 2025, according to USDA data compiled by IMARC Group — nearly half of tested acres carry a documented shortfall, which is the underlying demand driver behind both the $0.25 billion 2026 market projection and the 87.1% field-crop application share cited above. Average zinc application rate across US field crops in 2025 was 6.7 kg/hectare (roughly 6 lbs/acre), per Mordor Intelligence.

The brief for this article did not turn up a state-by-state breakdown of that 47% figure — it’s a national aggregate, not a regional map. If you need a state-level read, USDA NASS’s Quick Stats tool and your state land-grant extension service (for example, Kansas State’s or University of Nebraska’s soil fertility programs) are the standard sources for regional zinc-deficiency prevalence; neither was available in the research for this piece, so treat any state-specific claim you see elsewhere with that gap in mind.

On the technology side, 75% of US crop acres are equipped with GPS-based variable-rate application mapping capability as of 2025, per Mordor Intelligence. That’s a measure of precision-ag infrastructure adoption broadly, not zinc-specific application adoption — the brief found no USDA or NASS survey isolating what share of growers use that capability specifically to variable-rate zinc, so this page reports the 75% figure as infrastructure capacity, not as “75% of farmers variable-rate their zinc.”

How to Verify Today’s Price Yourself

Every price in this article carries a vintage because fertilizer spot prices move month to month. Here’s the durable method for getting a current number instead of relying on this page’s snapshot indefinitely:

1. For US zinc sulfate spot prices: ChemAnalyst updates its zinc sulfate pricing page monthly and quarterly by country — check it directly for the current spot figure rather than assuming the $971/MT December 2025 reading still holds.
2. For per-acre application costs and wholesale ranges: GrainBrief’s micronutrient fertilizer cost page pulls from USDA AMS and FRED commodity data on a weekly refresh cycle — this is the fastest-updating source in this article’s evidence base.
3. For market size and adoption trends: Mordor Intelligence publishes its US micronutrient fertilizer market report annually, with the next update expected in 2027 via the Mordor Intelligence micronutrient report — treat the 31.5%, 87.1%, and 6.7 kg/hectare figures above as 2025-vintage until that update lands.
4. For zinc deficiency prevalence in your specific county or state: pull a current soil test through your state’s land-grant extension soil-testing lab rather than relying on the 47% national aggregate — deficiency prevalence varies enough by soil type and cropping history that a national number is a starting point, not a substitute for your own sample.

This four-step check is the spine of this page: the specific dollar figures above will drift, but the method for refreshing them — go to ChemAnalyst for spot price, GrainBrief for per-acre cost, Mordor Intelligence for market share, your extension lab for your own soil — stays valid regardless of which quarter you’re reading this in.

Where This Zinc Comes From: Mining & Geospatial Intelligence

Zinc sulfate’s raw material — mined zinc ore, refined to zinc oxide and then reacted to sulfate — connects the agricultural price trend above directly to upstream mining supply. Tight zinc metal supply feeds through to sulfate pricing on the same kind of lag that moved ChemAnalyst’s spot reading from $951/MT to $971/MT across Q3–Q4 2025.

At Farmonaut, we apply satellite Earth observation and AI-driven analysis to zinc and other mineral exploration, identifying prospective targets without the cost and disturbance of ground-based survey campaigns in early-stage work.

• Satellite-driven exploration reduces ground disturbance and shortens the timeline on early-stage zinc prospecting.
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• Try it: Run your own numbers

Explore Farmonaut’s Satellite-Based Mineral Detection page to see how remote sensing supports zinc ore prospecting for US mining companies and agribusiness investors evaluating supply security.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the current US zinc sulfate spot price?
   
   ChemAnalyst recorded US agricultural-grade zinc sulfate spot pricing at $971/MT in December 2025, up from $951/MT in September 2025. Wholesale/retail 36% Zn product runs $600–$800/ton per GrainBrief’s USDA AMS-sourced data. Check the ChemAnalyst pricing page directly for the current month’s figure, since this is a monthly-updating series.
2. How is zinc sulphate price trend different from ammonium sulfate / sulphate of ammonia price?
   
   They’re different products entirely. Zinc sulfate is a micronutrient priced at $971/MT (Dec 2025); ammonium sulfate (also called sulphate of ammonia) is a nitrogen-sulfur macronutrient priced at $383/MT (June 2026). The lower ammonium sulfate price reflects its role as a high-volume commodity nitrogen source rather than a specialty micronutrient.
3. What does zinc sulfate cost per acre to apply?
   
   Dry zinc sulfate at a 1–2 lbs Zn/acre maintenance rate costs $1.20–$2.70/acre. Chelated zinc applied as a foliar spray costs $4–$8/acre. Use the calculator above to run your own acreage against both methods.
4. How big is the US zinc sulfate market and the broader agricultural zinc market?
   
   Market Research Future projects the US zinc sulfate market at $0.25 billion in 2026. Zinc represents 31.5% of the total US micronutrient fertilizer market by value in 2025, with field crops accounting for 87.1% of application share, per Mordor Intelligence.
5. What share of US cropland is zinc deficient?
   
   47% of tested US cropland soils showed zinc deficiency in 2025, based on USDA data compiled by IMARC Group. This is a national aggregate; no state-by-state breakdown was available in current research, so a local soil test through your state extension lab is the way to get a figure specific to your fields.
6. Where can I check zinc sulfate monohydrate spot price in USD per tonne for agricultural grade?
   
   ChemAnalyst’s zinc sulfate pricing database tracks agricultural-grade spot pricing in USD/MT on a monthly and quarterly basis by country — that’s the same series behind the $971/MT December 2025 figure cited throughout this page.
7. Where can I start satellite-based zinc exploration for my region?
   
   Visit Farmonaut’s Satellite-Based Mineral Detection page, or go directly to mining.farmonaut.com to map a site.

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