The EU-spec standard pig price was down by a further 0.48p last week to stand at 219.64p/kg, the first time it has dipped below the 220p-mark since early May.
The National Pig Association (NPA) said the pig price continues to fall on the back of weakening domestic demand and falling EU prices.
This latest decline followed the previous week’s 1.62p dip, and means the standard pig price (SPP) has now lost 6p since mid-August, although it is still around 19p ahead of a year ago.
The gap between the SPP and the all pig price (APP) has narrowed again.
Following the previous week’s loss of 0.61p, the APP was down another 1.01p to stand at 220,07p/kg during the week ended October 7.
This closed the gap between the two price indexes to just 0.05p, with the SPP still slightly ahead of the APP.
“Another 4p came off the EU reference price during the week ended October 15, taking it below 190p/kg, led by a fall of 7p in Germany, and that was before further price dips across Europe last week,” NPA said.
“The EU reference price has now lost more than 25p since mid-July and, with the UK price falling at a much more sedate pace, the gap between the EU and UK reference prices has widened from 6p to nearly 28p.”
Estimated GB slaughterings remain well below 2022 levels. The figure for the week ended October 21 fell back by nearly 3,000 on the week to stand at at 157,546, down 32,000 on the same week in 2022.
Average carcase weights in the SPP sample stabilised 90.57kg during the week ended October 21, having moved up by a kilo over the past fortnight. The latest figure was almost identical to a year ago.
London feed wheat was quoted by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) on Wednesday (October 25) at around £185/tonne for November, down by £5 on a week ago, and £190/tonne for January, also £5 down on the week.
