Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
In a welcome pre-Christmas boost, the EU-spec SPP increased by 0.31p to stand at 206.41p/kg during the week ended December 14, virtually regaining all the ground it lost the previous week.
This was only the second upward movement for the price index since early September, although it has only lost 3p in that 14-week period. The SPP remains at its lowest level since February 2023, and is now just over 8p below the same week last year, when prices were coming down steadily.
The more volatile APP, which includes premium pigs, lost 1.7p during the week ended November 7 to stand at 207.98p/kg, more than wiping out the gains made over the past two weeks. The gap to the SPP narrowed to 1.88p for the week.
EU prices have stabilised in recent weeks after a long period of steady and this is reflected in the EU reference price (S-grade), which picked up slightly for the third consecutive week to stand at 164.25p/kg during the week ended December 8. The gap to the equivalent UK reference price has narrowed slightly but remains at an historically vast 42.4p.
Throughputs have noticeably picked up in the pre-Christmas period, but estimated GB slaughterings were 7,700 head lower than the previous during the week ended December 14, to 176,174 head. This was, however, 14,500 above the same week last year, but nearly 35,000 head below the same week in 2022.
AHDB’s estimated 16 slaughterings have been revised upwards by around 2,000 head for the past few weeks.
Increasing carcase weights have been further supporting pigmeat production, but weights have been coming down as pigs are pulled forward before Christmas. The average in the SPP sample fell by a further 0.86kg to 88.73kg during the week ended December 14. This was just 0.7kg above the same week in 2023.
London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on December 11 at £181.40/t for January and £188.65/t for March, both around £3 up on last week.
To see the weekly price graphs, click here.