Pig prices stable in the latest week

At 194,100 head, estimated throughput was 6% higher than the week before but 1% below this point last year. It was one of the highest weekly kills of the year. The average carcase weight stood at 91.26 kg, slightly lighter than last week but still 3.74 kg above the same week in 2020.

Although this is moving in the right direction, it’s too early to say that it’s indicative of the backlog reducing. Many producers continue to face difficulties with high numbers of market-ready pigs on farm. Under normal circumstances we would typically see weights fall at this time of year, with producers finishing their pigs early ahead of the Christmas season.

In the week ending 18 December 7 kg weaners averaged £32.97/head, 70p lower than when a price was last available at the end of October. The EU-spec APP also remained largely unchanged in the week ending 11 December, at 148.62p/kg. The gap between the APP and the SPP widened to 6.81p.