Retailers battle for British apple and pear top spot
6th April 2025
The competition for British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL) retailer of the year is hotting up as we are six months into the current British apple and pear season.
BAPL represents UK growers and collates monthly data on how many British apples and pears UK retailers are buying.
The first six months of the current harvest year (September 2024 to February 2025 inclusive) sales have been analysed, and there are several standout performances.
Asda has had a startling performance, almost doubling their volume of British apples this season compared to last season; up from 4,086 tonnes between September 2023 and February 2024 to 8,079 tonnes in the same period this season.
Lidl, Sainsbury’s and M&S have also shown significant growth in the first six months of the season this year (2024/25), compared to the same period two years ago (2022/23).
In that time, Lidl’s volume went up 2,225 tonnes, Sainsbury’s volume went up 2,189 tonnes and M&S went up 1,090 tonnes.
Getting more British apples onto stores’ shelves
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.
Morrisons dropped 6,057 tonnes for the first six months of the season between those two years. The retailer is now buying just 3,457 tonnes of British apples in the same six-month period.
Ali Capper, BAPL executive chair, said: “We are so delighted with Asda’s amazing progress this year. It’s really fantastic.
“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 competition is definitely hotting up’
There are two retailers really battling it out for the top spot in the British apple league tables for the current season.
Aldi is just at the top, having bought 16,918 tonnes of British apples in the six months from September 2024 to February 2025, while Tesco bought 16,586 tonnes in the same period.
“It’s unbelievably close at the top,” Mrs Capper added. “The competition is definitely hotting up. What’s amazing is that between them Tesco and Aldi have bought around 40% 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% (3,221 tonnes) of all British pears sold by BAPL growers in the six months from September 2024 to February 2025. Lidl also had a strong performance with a volume of 2,289 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 (18,059 tonnes for Aldi and 17,980 tonnes 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%, yet they have sold 19.1% of all British apples and pears.
Mrs Capper added: “Aldi’s top fruit market share is almost double their grocery share, which is fabulous.
“But Lidl have done even better. Lidl’s grocery market share is 7.3%, but they’ve sold 16.5% 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% of all British apples and pears.”
BAPL announces its retailer of the year in September. Monthly sales data will continue to be published on the BAPL website.
Read more fruit news.
