UK’s largest supermarket sold 26,705 tonnes of British dessert apples in 2023/24, just ahead of last year’s champion Aldi
Tesco has been recognised as the top retailer of UK-grown apples in the 2023/24 campaign by industry body British Apples and Pears (BAPL).
The award was presented at an orchard tour event hosted by BAPL and AC Goatham in Kent to mark the start of the British apple season. The accolade is based on BAPL member sales to British supermarkets from September 2023 to the end of August 2024.
In that period, Tesco sold 26,705 tonnes of British dessert apples, just ahead of Aldi which sold 26,008 tonnes. The discounter had topped the chart in 2022/23.
Behind the top two came Sainsbury’s which sold 21,563 tonnes, and Lidl which sold 18,096 tonnes.
Additionally, Lidl picked up a separate award for recording the best year-on-year performance.
Sales volume at the discounter volume rose from 17,560 tonnes in 2022/23 to 18,096 tonnes in 2023/24.
BAPL executive chair Ali Capper commented: “Tesco came second last year, and we know they were motivated to go one better this year.
“We’re delighted they have achieved that. Lidl have also done really well to sell more British apples this year than they did last year – no small feat when you consider the slightly reduced volumes overall.”
BAPL revealed that several supermarkets sold more British apples than might have been expected given their grocery market share.
For example, Aldi sold 21 per cent of all British apples despite having a grocery market share of 10 per cent.
Meanwhile, Lidl sold 14.6 per cent of all British apples, with a share of 8.1 per cent.
Sainsbury’s also outstripped its market share, selling 17.4 per cent of the total volume against a market share of 15.3 per cent.
The full results are as follows:
|
Retailer |
Total tonnes (2023/24) |
Percentage of total British apple sales |
Grocery market share |
|
Tesco |
26,705 |
21.6% |
27.6% |
|
Aldi |
26,008 |
21.0% |
10.0% |
|
Sainsbury’s |
21,563 |
17.4% |
15.3% |
|
Lidl |
18,096 |
14.6% |
8.1% |
|
M&S |
6,513 |
5.3% |
N/A |
|
Waitrose |
5,709 |
4.6% |
4.5% |
|
Asda |
5,553 |
4.5% |
12.6% |
|
Morrisons |
5,239 |
4.2% |
8.6% |
|
Co-op |
4,487 |
3.6% |
5.9% |
|
Others |
3,321 |
2.7% |
5.0% |
|
Iceland |
608 |
0.5% |
2.3% |
Looking ahead to the British topfruit season, Capper said: “This year’s crop is looking good and we’re hopeful that all UK supermarkets will work even harder this year to promote British apples and pears to their shoppers.
“Buying British over imported fruit saves on food miles, and we know consumers want British if at all possible.”
