Missouri propane prices

Missouri's propane demand runs through the Ozarks and the farm counties north of the river, where gas mains stop and houses sit on tanks. Grain drying adds a fall load in the northern half of the state. Supply comes up from the Gulf Coast by pipeline, and Missouri sits close enough to the Conway hub in Kansas that the inland benchmark, rather than Mont Belvieu, is often the better read on what dealers here are paying.

The figure above is EIA's weekly survey average for Missouri, collected from retail dealers during the October to March heating season and published Wednesday afternoons. No survey runs in the warm months, so the last spring reading stands until the fall. The second line on the chart is the wholesale price Missouri dealers pay at the rack. What separates the two lines is the cost of getting a gallon into a tank behind a house, which is delivery, tank service and dealer margin together, not margin alone. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey, on five-year estimates, puts propane as the main heating fuel in 8.4% of occupied Missouri homes, well above the national middle. That is a large block of homes to keep supplied through a cold January.

Missouri reports into EIA's Midwest district, so the wider read is Midwest propane prices and the Midwest inventory behind them. Turning this price into a fill cost takes a tank size and a gauge reading; the propane usage calculator does that arithmetic and prefills the Missouri price.