Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
The EU-spec SPP increased for the third consecutive week, gaining another 0.24p to reach 210.08p/kg during the week ended August 24.
The SPP has now gained 0.66p after over the past five weeks, after a series of small hikes, after losing 2p over the previous seven weeks. It is now just over 15/kg below the same week last year when the price index had just passed its all-time peak.
The APP, which includes premium pigs, was virtually unmoved, losing 0.01p to reach 211.51p/kg during the week ended August 17, after the previous week’s gain of 1.33p, narrowing the gap to the SPP to 1.67p for the week.
Following falls in various countries in recent weeks, the EU reference price (S grade) is coming down. It lost 3.5p during the week ended August 18 to reach 184.25, increasing the differential to the equivalent UK reference price to 28p, after being around 24p for the previous five weeks.
Estimated GB slaughterings for the week ended August 24 were more than 7,000 down on the previous week to 155,880, which was 5,500 above the same week last year, but 19,000 down the 2022 figure for the week.
However, these figures remain subject to revision amid ongoing uncertainty over Defra UK figures, with clean pig figures for June and July 2024 still being weighted by the Defra May 2024 figure.
Average carcase weights continue to fall, dipping by a further 0.1kg to 89.56kg in the SPP sample during the week ended August 25. This compared with 90.8kg in mid-July, and, for the first time in a long time, was slightly below the figure for the same week in 2023.
Cereal prices are also coming down. London feed wheat futures for November were quoted by AHDB on August 21 at £180/t, £4 down on the week.
To see the weekly price graphs, click here.