GB pig prices for week ending January 9, 2021 – biggest drop in SPP since 2016, record weights

The EU-spec SPP recorded a significant drop on the previous week in the week ending January 9.

The price averaged 144.74p/kg, just shy of 2p below the previous week. This is the largest week-on-week decline recorded since January 2016. As such, this puts prices 17.66p below the same week in the previous year, although it does remain slightly above the 5-year average.

Estimated slaughter continued to pick up following the shorter kill weeks over the holiday period. Throughputs totalled 173,400 head, 38,600 head more than in the previous week. However, the slaughter pace remains around 5% lower than in the same week in the previous year.

Carcase weights continued to rise, reflecting the ongoing issues with a backlog of pigs. SPP sample weights surpassed the 90kg mark for the first time on record, averaging at 90.42kg, 560g more than in the previous week. This was almost 4kg higher than last year.