SPP continues downward trend, further hitting margins

In the week ending 13 February, the EU-spec SPP fell by 0.34p on the previous week to average 139.63p/kg.

Estimated throughput for the week was 175,500 head, 6,800 lower than the week before, and nearly 2% lower than the same week last year. Carcase weights averaged 89.84kg, nearly 700g lighter than the previous week but obviously still significantly heavier than at this point last year.

In the week ending 6 February, the EU-spec APP averaged 143.97p/kg, down 0.78p on the week. The gap between the SPP and the APP narrowed to 4.00p.

AHDB’s cost of production estimates are based on the APP, which is typically slightly higher than the SPP. Although on average pig farmers were making 8p/kg in Q3, preliminary indications based on movements in finished pig and feed prices suggest that this dropped to losing close to 10p/kg in Q4. As feed prices continued to increase, and pig prices continued to fall indications are that pig farmers could have been losing more than 20p/kg in January 2021. Finalised cost of production figures will be available soon.

Unfortunately, we were able to publish a price for neither 30kg weaners nor 7kg weaners this week.

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