Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
The EU-spec SPP lost a further 0.77p to stand at 188.03p/kg during the week ended February 14.
While the scale of the reversal is less than half the 1.55p drop recorded the previous week, it means the price index has now lost close to 10p during the course of 2026, so far. It is currently standing nearly 14p below the same week last year and is at its lowest point since June 2022.
The downward trend is driven by various factors, including plummeting EU prices. However, the picture from Europe has been more stable in redent weeks. The latest Tribune EU market round-up on Monday showed a reversal in Denmark has been countered by increases in Belgium and notably, for the first time since its ASF outbreak, in Spain. The influential German price stood on again , with commentary from Germany indicating the ‘increasingly balanced relationship between supply and demand continues to stabilise’.
The EU reference price (Grade S) inched up to 126.86p/kg during the week ended February 8, meaning the gap to the equivalent UK price continues to close very slowly as the UK price comes back. The difference now stands at just below 68p, still around three times typical levels.
The domestic market has also been characterised in recent weeks by ample supplies and a growing pig backlog on farms.
Defra’s latest update shows UK clean pig slaughterings were down 3.1% on January 2025 at 872,000 head, while pigmeat production, 85,000 tonnes, was 0.1% higher than in January 2025 due to significantly higher carcase weights.
The most recent AHDB estimates, as is often the case after the publication of the monthly Defra figures, have been revised downwards, but still suggest GB clean pig slaughterings trended just above year-earlier levels during the early weeks of 2026. However, the estimated figure for the week ended February 14, 162,720 head, was 12,000 head down on the previous week and 3,500 head below year-earlier levels.
Average carcase weight in the SPP sample dropped back by 0.12kg to stand at 95.28kg, but they remain historically high, 3.3kg above year-earlier levels and not far off the record level recorded at the height of the pig backlog in January 2022.
London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on February 19 at £163/t for March and £166/t for May, slightly down last week.