British Apples & Pears figures for the past six months reveal some impressive retailer performances
Several supermarkets have significantly increased their purchases of British apples this year, new figures indicate.
Trade body British Apples & Pears (BAPL) has issued an update on retailer performance six months into the current British apple and pear season, covering the period September 2024 to February 2025.
Perhaps most notable is the performance of Asda, which has almost doubled its purchase volume of British apples this season, compared to a year ago. Its volume has risen from 4,086 tonnes between September 2023 and February 2024, to 8,079t in the same period this season.
Lidl, Sainsbury’s and M&S have also shown significant growth in the first six months of this season, compared to the same period two years ago. Lidl’s volume has risen by 2,225t, Sainsbury’s is up 2,189t, and M&S 1,090t.
However, not every retailer has managed to grow its volumes over the last few years. Morrisons, Co-op and Iceland all bought fewer British apples in the first six months of this season than two years ago, BAPL noted.
Morrisons dropped 6,057t for the first six months of the season between those two years, with the retailer now buying just 3,457t of British apples in the same six-month period.
“We are so delighted with Asda’s amazing progress this year – it’s really fantastic,” said BAPL executive chair Ali Capper. “The sustained growth from Sainsbury’s, Lidl and M&S is also very welcome. Our growers recognise that these retailers are really going above and beyond to support British.
“However, we need to be mindful of the supermarkets struggling at the bottom of our league tables. Our main message to those retailers is: What can we do to help you get more British apples onto your shelves and into shoppers’ baskets?”
The fight for the crown
There are two retailers battling it out for the top spot in the British apple league table for the current season. Aldi is narrowly at the top, having bought 16,918t of British apples in the last six months, while Tesco bought 16,586t in the same period.
“It’s unbelievably close at the top,” Capper said. “The competition is definitely hotting up. What’s amazing is that between them Tesco and Aldi have bought around 40 per cent of all British apples sold to UK retailers between September 2024 and February 2025.”
When it comes to British pears, Sainsbury’s continues to be the standout performer, having bought 33 per cent – 3,221t – of all British pears sold by BAPL growers in the last six months. Lidl also had a strong performance with a volume of 2,289t in the same period.
Combining the volumes for British apples and pears in the first six months of the season, Aldi is just ahead of Tesco – by a mere 79 tonnes (18,059t for Aldi versus 17,980t for Tesco).
Given the different sizes of UK retailers, BAPL also compares each supermarket’s share of British apple and pear sales with its grocery market share. Aldi’s overall grocery market share is 10.3 per cent, yet it has sold 19.1 per cent of all British apples and pears.
“Aldi’s topfruit market share is almost double their grocery share, which is fabulous,” Capper noted. “But Lidl have done even better. Lidl’s grocery market share is 7.3 per cent, but they’ve sold 16.5 per cent of all British apples and pears.
“That’s more than double their grocery share. If Tesco were doing as well as that, they would be selling over 50 per cent of all British apples and pears.”
