Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
The EU-spec SPP suffered its biggest reversal since the start of the year, losing just 1.77p to stand at 182.73p/kg during the week ended March 21.
The SPP, which has lost 14.4p since the start of the year, is now more than 21p below the same week last year and at its lowest point since June 2022.
The picture from Europe continues to to improve. The latest Tribune showed further increases in Spain and Denmark, with no movement elsewhere.
As a result of the upturn in Europe, the EU reference price (Grade S) has gained 13.6p in the space of five weeks, moving up by a further 4p to 139.75p/kg during the week ended March 15. With the UK price falling, the gap between the UK and EU reference prices is closing rapidly, now dropping to below 50p, compared with the all-time high of 70p in January.
AHDB’s estimated GB clean pig slaughterings stood at at 175,532 during the week ended March 21 – 6,000 up on the previous week, 18,000 above year-earlier levels and 20,000 ahead of the 2024 figure, suggesting some progress is being made in addressing the backlog.
After five weeks of gradual decline, carcase weights, which have been at elevated levels all year, moved back up again, gaining 0.31kg to stand at 95.11kg, nearly 4kg above year-earlier levels.
London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on March 25 at £175/t for May, slightly up on last week, and £177/t for July.