Despite shout prices moving in the opposite direction a couple of weeks ago, the gap between the DAPP and shout prices is still far too wide and a generally confusing situation is continuing to develop with Tulip, which normally announces on Thursday night, delaying its decision until Friday morning and finally standing on, despite Cranswick and Karro both dropping a penny. Woodheads stood on, and Gills are to be commended for actually going up by one penny.
The latest shout prices are as below:
Gills, 166p/kg
Woodheads, 166p/kg
Tulip, 163p/kg
Karro, 159p/kg
Cranswick, 159p/kg
Unweighted Average Shout Price, 162.6p/kg
The latest DAPP rose by 0.09p and now stands at 168.34p.
Once again, it’s a point worth making that, with the exception of Tulip, a relatively small percentage of pigs are bought on shout prices by the other big four, most of whom are either on DAPP/spot-based permutations, and on this basis some producers are predicting the demise of the whole shout price system, which will almost certainly occur with pigs being switched to DAPP-based contracts.
The spot market, however, remains relatively buoyant, continuing to reflect a significant shortage of pigs, and sellers were once again able achieve similar stand on prices to last week, with most spot bacon traded in the 170-174p/kg range according to spec.
A slight weakening in the value of the euro, which traded on Friday at 86.04p, did nothing to hit sow prices, which moved ahead by a further penny with most quotes in the 124-127p/kg range according to load size and spec.
With harvest in the northern hemisphere now well underway, cereal prices are continuing to ease with old-crop wheat quoted at £151/t ex-farm and a few bears prowling around the futures market where November wheat was quoted at £157/t and March 2014 at £161.40/t.
A glance further ahead also indicates weaker prices in fifteen months time with November 2014 quoted at £153/t.
Weaner buyers remain preoccupied with straw carting, and with space on the short side prices have yet to fully react to cheaper feed costs and firm finished pig returns. The latest AHDB 30kg ex-farm weaner average quoted a shade firmer at £53.75/head and 7kg weaners were generally trading in the £35-39/head range according to load size and Farm Assurance status.
It’s worth pointing out that the AHDB weaner average now includes a higher proportion of Freedom Food pigs and demand for those in this category remains strong.
And finally, shout prices remain a hot topic among many pig sellers and Digby Scott at the NPA would be interested to receive your views on suitable alternative pricing systems.
> Suffolk-based auctioneer Peter Crichton provides a wide range of valuation, auction and livestock marketing services, as well as supplying the UK pig industry with a wide range of consultancy services covering tenancy, contract advice, pig equipment and herd valuations as well as dispute resolution. For more information visit: www.petercrichton.co.uk