Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
After recording its biggest increase since July 2022 last week (2.07p), the EU-spec SPP has lost all that ground and more, losing 2.15p to stand at 178.26p/kg during the week ended August 8.
AHDB said the volatility of the price looks to be largely influenced by the mix of pigs at abattoirs and some possible impact of the SPP fall two weeks ago. Prices in the 70kg to 104.9kg band were down 2.06p/kg, indicating that large fall was not driven by extreme weights.
This continues a pattern of ups and downs since early May. The net effect of this volatility is that the SPP is back to where it was in early May, having topped 180p/kg last week. It is now more than 30p below where it stood a year ago, however, on the back of an imbalance of supply and demand, compounded by low EU prices.
The latest Tribune roundup of EU prices showed welcome large increases in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Denmark’s quoted headline price remains well below €1/kg, however.
The EU reference price (S-grade) drop back slightly during the week ended August 2 to stand at 134.16p/kg. With the equivalent UK price increasing that week, the headline gap between the EU and UK reference prices moved back beyond the 50p-mark, more than double the typical difference.
AHDB data suggests July slaughterings were well above year-earlier levels. Estimated GB clean pig slaughterings, at 158,060 head during the week ended August 1, were 4,400 down on the previous week but more than 3,000 head above the 2025 figure. For the first time in a while, however, the 2026 figure dipped below 2023 and 2024 levels.
Average carcase weights moved up fractionally to stand at 89.79kg in the SPP sample during the week ended August 8. Carcase weights are nearly 6kg below the recent April peak and slightly above year-earlier levels.
The extreme hot weather of recent weeks will have impacted productivity in the short-term and longer-term, with some heavy losses reported on farms during first heatwave, alongside what are likely to be slower growth rates.
London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on August 12 at £201/t for November, £3 up on last week, and £199/t for January, slightly down on last week.