Pig prices: SPP moves up again
The EU-spec SPP followed last week’s small dip with a small gain of 0.3p during the week ended March 23 to stand at 211.61p/kg.
The price index has been extremely stable since the end of January, when it stood at 211.36p/kg, fluctuating up and down since. It is now 2.3p behind where a year ago, when pig prices were still rising at a decent rate.
The much more volatile APP, which includes premium pigs, gained a further 1.6p during the week ended March 16, meaning it has gained 2.8p over the last two weeks, to stand at 213.23p/kg. This put it nearly 2p ahead of the SPP for the week.
The UK-EU price gap continues to narrow. The EU reference price gained another penny during the week ended March 17 to stand at 185.63p/kg, meaning the gap to the equivalent UK reference price has narrowed to 23p, far more manageable in terms of imports than the 37p gap of a few weeks ago.
Throughputs remain very suppressed. Estimated GB slaughterings for the week ended March 23 gained nearly 4,000 on the very low figure of the previous week to stand at 144,650, 11,000 below the same week a year ago, and 27,000 below the 2022 figure.
These weekly slaughtering figures are always subject to revision – and AHDB has suggested that the very low figure of 141,000 for the week ended March 16 may reflect a higher proportion of pigs being killed outside the SPP sample than usual.
By Alistair Driver | National Pig Association
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