Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
The EU-spec SPP has inched up again, gaining 0.24p to stand at 180.4p/kg during the week ended September 13.
This is the third week in a row the SPP has moved up, albeit in small jumps over the past fortnight, gaining 2p in the process – and ending the ‘yo-yo’ effect that has seen prices move up and down alternately every week for the past few months.
The SPP remains at virtually the same level as in learly-May and is now just over 26p below where it stood a year ago, on the back of an imbalance of supply and demand, compounded by low EU prices.
The SPP sample stood at 50,565 pigs with the biggest price gain, +0.92p, coming in the 80-90kg range (14,800 pigs).
The SPP masks huge variation, however, when it comes to current pig prices, with some producers receiving. as little as 130p/kg and below for contracted and uncontracted pigs, and others on longer-term cost-of-production-linked contracts receiving around £2/kg and above.
The latest Tribune roundup of EU prices showed an further notable gains in France and Spain, with prices holding steady elsewhere.
The recent EU price gains continue to narrow the gap between the headline UK and EU reference prices. The EU reference price (S-grade) was up by another 1.2p to stand at 148.38p/kg during the week ended September 6, meaning it has gained nearly 14p over the past six weeks. As a result, the gap to the UK reference price has narrowed to 38.6p, back from 49p in early August.
UK pig throughputs and pigmeat production continue to trend above year-earlier levels. August UK clean pig slaughterings were up 2.2% on August 2025 at 844,000 head, while pigmeat production was up 3.8% at 79,000 tonnes, also driven by higher carcase weights, according to Defra’s latest monthly estimates. Notably, August sow and boar slaughterings, at 18,000 head, were 21% up year on year.
AHDB’s estimated GB clean pig slaughterings have been revised upwards for the past few weeks, compared with the figure originally published. At 170,744 head, the estimated figure for week ended September 13 was 3,700 head up last week, but 2,600 down on last year.
Average carcase weights continue to rise, gaining 0.63kg to stand at 92.26kg in the SPP sample, the sixth weekly increase in a row, during which the average has increased by around 2.5kg. Carcase weights are still more than 3kg below the recent April peak and 2kg above year-earlier levels.
London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on September 16 at around £210/t for November and £211/t for January, slightly down on last week.