AHDB Pork’s weekly pig prices, slaughter data and commentary for Great Britain

The EU-spec SPP continued to rise during the week ending April 15 to reach 155.58p/kg, a week on week increase of 1.11p. The current quote is now more than 42p higher than in the same week in 2016.

For the past few weeks tight supplies have been supporting prices and this remains the case. Likewise, anecdotal evidence suggests that the strong demand for UK pig meat is coming more from the export market, rather than domestically which is relatively subdued at the moment.

Estimated throughputs in week ending April 15 fell by 11% on the week and 20% on the year at 147,600 head. It is worth noting however, that there was one less working day in the week due to the Easter bank holiday, which would have contributed to some of the fall in throughputs.

However, slaughterings were still lower, by 9%, than in the Easter holiday week last year. Average carcase weights also continued to fall in week ending 15 April. At 83.30kg the current weight is 200g lower on the previous week and 350g less than the same week a year ago. The average probe measurement fell again last week to 10.8mm the lowest level since March 2014.

In the week ending April 8, the EU-spec APP continued to rise, reaching the highest price for this series since October 2014. At 157.15p/kg the current quote is 1.37p up on the week and over 40p higher than the equivalent week in 2016. The gap between the APP and the SPP remains relatively stable at 2.68p/kg.