Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
The EU-spec SPP has dropped back again, losing 1.4p to stand at 176.38p/kg, a new low for the year, during the week ended October 24.
This means the SPP has now lost more than 4p over the past three weeks, following a long period of stability. It is currently at its lowest point since May 2022 and is 27p below the same week last year.
The SPP sample stood at 48,055 pigs, and all weights categories up to 100kg recorded price drops of at least 2.2p. In contrast to recent weeks, only the 100kg+ categories recorded price increases.
This decline in the average pig price comes at a time when large numbers of uncontracted are coming onto the market and EU prices are continuing to fall.
The latest Tribune EU price roundup showed further price reductions in France and Spain, and no movement elsewhere, although currency fluctuations have slightly reduced the price of imports versus UK product.
The headline UK-EU price gap continues to widen. The EU reference price (S-grade) lost just over 1p to stand at 136.09p/kg during the week ended October 18, meaning it has lost nearly 13p in the space of five weeks. This increased the gap to the equivalent UK reference price to close to 50p again, compared with 37p just four weeks earlier.
Having been trending well above year-earlier figures for the first eight months of the year, September UK clean pig slaughterings were down 1.1% on September 2025.
AHDB’s estimated GB clean pig slaughterings have been trending below year-earlier levels during October. At 165,601 head, the estimated figure for the week ended October 17 was slightly up on the previous week, but 4,000 head down on the year-earlier figure.
Average carcase weights increased for the fifth time in six weeks, gaining 0.7kg to stand at 94.01kg in the SPP sample, an increase of more than 4g since early August, and around 1.7kg below the January peak. The average carcase weight is nearly 1kg up on year-earlier levels.
There is some relief in falling wheat prices. London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on Ocober 28 at £192/t for November, a decline of £14 in the space of two weeks, and £196/t for January, £10 down over the past fortnight.