Pig prices for the week ending April 18, 2015

BPEX weekly pig prices, slaughter data and commentary for Great Britain.

Following falls in the price of finished pigs throughout 2015, in the week ending April 18 the EU-spec GP SPP increased by 0.14p to 132.33p/kg. Despite this increase, the difference compared to the same week in 2014 remains almost 31p.

Prices have risen despite estimated slaughterings being 170,900 head, up 7% on the previous year and 6% on the previous week. However, both of these comparison weeks were affected by Easter closures, so supplies would have been expected to have been higher.

Carcase weights were broadly level with the previous week at 82.4kg and were up by more than 1.5kg compared to the same week in 2014 as ongoing low feed costs encourage producers to finish pigs at higher weights. The average probe measurement continued to decline, falling to 11.1mm showing that, despite the increased weights, producers are still managing to get their pigs in specification.

The EU-spec GB APP continued to fall in the week ended April 11, dropping by a little more than a third of a penny to 135.75p/kg. This is 29p lower than the same week in 2014. This has further reduced the difference between the APP and the SPP to 3.56p/kg.