EU pig prices has risen in the build up to Christmas with values moving more than £24 per 100kg above 2015 levels during the week to December 11 this year, according to AHDB Pork.
“This rise in prices is likely to be due to a seasonal rise in demand in the build up to the Christmas period, while supplies are thought to have been tighter following some rationalisation of breeding herds in key producing countries,” said AHDB Pork.
“However, with the Christmas procurement period coming to an end, prices could begin to come under more pressure in the coming weeks.
Prices in Germany have seen larger than average increases with the country’s reference price climbing by €8 (£6.70) during the last four weeks. Price rises have also been seen in other major northern producers such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland.
Prices in the UK, meanwhile, also continued to increase in the past four weeks, with some recovery of the pound adding to the rises in euro terms. This has led the UK average reference price to remain above the EU price.
“In sterling terms, the most recent UK figure was over 19p higher than the EU average price,” said AHDB Pork. “This is similar to the previous three weeks but otherwise represents the largest price premium since January.”