British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL) has published its rankings of supermarket performance in supporting British apple sales during the initial four months of the 2024/25 season.
The data highlights which retailers have prioritised British apples between September and December 2024.
Aldi emerged as the leading retailer, purchasing 11,824 tonnes of apples from BAPL growers during the period, which accounts for 23 per cent of all British apples sold by the group. This significantly exceeds Aldi's overall grocery market share of 10 per cent.
Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, made a slow start to the season, ranking behind both Aldi and Lidl in September and October. However, Tesco gained momentum by December, purchasing 2,734 tonnes of British apples that month, the highest volume of any supermarket in December 2024. Despite this late surge, Tesco’s total purchase of British apples for the season – 18 per cent of the total from BAPL growers – was below its grocery market share of 28.5 per cent.
Lidl also performed strongly, purchasing 8,499 tonnes of British apples – 16 per cent of the total – exceeding its 7.3 per cent grocery market share and securing third place in the rankings.
Sainsbury’s, in fourth place, bought 8,281 tonnes of British apples, which represents 16 per cent of total sales from BAPL growers. This performance aligns perfectly with its grocery market share of 16 per cent.
Marks & Spencer and Waitrose also demonstrated robust support for British apples, buying 2,911 tonnes and 2,707 tonnes respectively, with both outperforming their respective grocery market shares.
Asda, which had underperformed in 2023 by purchasing just 5 per cent of British apples sold by BAPL growers (despite a 13.6 per cent market share), showed improvement this season. The retailer purchased 1,044 tonnes more apples than in the same period last year, according to BAPL data.
In contrast, Iceland recorded no purchases of British apples from BAPL growers at the start of the 2024/25 season.
Commenting on the sales figures, Ali Capper, BAPL's executive chair, said: “The start of the new British apple season is a crucial time for our growers. We know shoppers are very keen to get their hands on the delicious new season fruit, and we’ve had some great support from many UK retailers.
“Once again, Aldi and Lidl significantly outperformed against their grocery market share and really got behind British top fruit. However, they are facing strong competition from Tesco as it finally got to the top of the new season league table in December 2024.”
Capper added: “British apple production volumes are keeping pace with previous years. October to December 2023 saw a total volume of 45,901 tonnes of British apples being sold by BAPL growers to UK retailers, compared to 45,404 tonnes in the same period in 2024. Supply remains good, and the quality of the fruit is excellent, so we’d urge all the retailers to continue their support by buying British.”
Comments