Weekly pig prices and slaughter data for Great Britain.
The EU-spec SPP has dipped below the 200p/kg-mark for the first time since October 2022, losing 0.85p to stand at at 199.82p/kg, during the week ended November 29.
Following last week’s surprise 0.38p increase, the latest fall means the SPP has lost more than 8p since mid August and is 6.6p below where it stood a year ago.
There has been added focus on the markets in the past few days, following confirmation of African swine fever (ASF) in Spain and the imposition of export restrictions, albeit mainly focused on Catalonia where the outbreak occured.
This week’s Tribune EU price round-up painted a relatively stable picture, although it might have been too early for the markets to have fully reacted.
The Spanish pig price, which had already lost 30% since July, partly on the back of difficult export markets, took a small hit, but there was little movement elsewhere.
The EU reference price (Grade S) lost nearly 2p to stand at 153.22p/kg during the week ended November 22, pushing the gap to the equivalent UK price up to beyond 50p again, more than double typical levels.
AHDB’s estimated GB slaughterings for the week ended November 29 were slightly down on the previous week, at 173,118 head, which was 7,500 head above the 2024 figure, but nearly 2,000 head down on 2023. As always, these estimates are potentially subject to further revision.
Average carcase weights were unmoved on the week, remaining at the elevated level of 93.23kg in the SPP sample, more than 3kg above year-earlier levels.
London feed wheat futures were quoted by AHDB on December 3 at £165/t for January, and £169/t for March, unchanged on last week.