Nine months into the current British apple and pear season and the competition for BAPL retailer of the year is hotting up.
British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL) represents UK growers and collates monthly data on how many British apples and pears UK retailers are buying. The first nine months of the current harvest year (September 2024 to May 2025 inclusive) sales have been analysed and there are several standout performances.
Asda has continued their startling early season performance, more than doubling their volume of British apples this season, compared to last season; up from 5,458 tonnes between September 2023 and May 2024 to 11,200 tonnes in the same period this season.
Other standout year-on-year performances have been achieved by Lidl (up 2,668 tonnes), Tesco (up 2,633 tones) and Sainsbury’s (up 1,436 tonnes).
But it’s not only the bigger retailers that are seeing improvements, M&S is now buying 5.2% of all British apples compared to their market share of 3.7% and Waitrose is also outperforming its market share buying 4.8% of all British apples compared to a 4.6% grocery market share.
Figure 1. British apple sales from BAPL growers to UK supermarkets from September to May (tonnes)
| NINE MONTHS SEPT TO MAY EACH YEAR | |||
| 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | |
| Aldi | 26,077 | 25,437 | 27,349 |
| Asda | 11,200 | 5,458 | 6,500 |
| Co-op | 3,735 | 4,301 | 6,110 |
| Iceland | 537 | 608 | 1,205 |
| Lidl | 20,587 | 17,919 | 17,220 |
| M&S | 6,926 | 6,252 | 5,769 |
| Morrisons | 4,730 | 5,121 | 10,005 |
| Sainsbury’s | 21,828 | 20,392 | 20,019 |
| Tesco | 28,412 | 25,779 | 27,971 |
| Waitrose | 6,383 | 5,572 | 6,375 |
| Others | 1,917 | 3,242 | 2,639 |
| TOTAL | 132,332 | 120,081 | 131,162 |
Even those retailers that were struggling in the first six months of the season, have managed to make some improvements. Morrisons is still down on last year, but only by 391 tonnes. Co-op is down 566 tonnes on the same nine months of last season, but the retailer has also been dealing with the impact of a cyberattack.
At the top of the league table, Tesco has pulled ahead of its rivals (buying 28,421 tonnes from BAPL growers between September 2024 and May 2025), although there is still time for others to catch up.
Figure 2. British apple sales from BAPL growers to UK supermarkets from September 2024 to May 2025 inclusive (tonnes)
“Six months into the season Aldi were at the top, but Tesco have had a cracking third quarter and have just pulled ahead,” said Ali Capper, BAPL executive chair. “The race for the number one spot is still neck and neck.
“Lidl and Aldi continue to outperform against their market share. Aldi achieving a performance 8.6 percentage points above their grocery market share, and Lidl 7.5 percentage points higher,” continued Ali. “If Tesco performed as well as Lidl, they would be selling half of all British apples!”
Figure 3. British apple sales by retailer as percentage compared to grocery market share
| % of all British apples sold | Grocery market share | % point difference between sales and grocery market share | |
| Tesco | 21.5% | 28.0% | -6.50% |
| Aldi | 19.7% | 11.1% | 8.60% |
| Sainsbury’s | 16.5% | 15.1% | 1.40% |
| Lidl | 15.6% | 8.1% | 7.50% |
| Asda | 8.5% | 12.1% | -3.60% |
| M&S | 5.2% | 3.7% | 1.50% |
| Waitrose | 4.8% | 4.6% | 0.20% |
| Morrisons | 3.6% | 8.4% | -4.80% |
| Co-op | 2.8% | 5.3% | -2.50% |
| Others | 1.4% | 1.5% | -0.10% |
| Iceland | 0.4% | 2.2% | -1.80% |
When it comes to British pears, Sainsbury’s continues to be the standout performer, having bought 36.7% (4,935 tonnes) of all British pears sold by BAPL growers in the nine months from September 2024 to May 2025. Lidl and Aldi also had relatively strong performances compared to their grocery market share, buying 19.8% (2,660 tonnes) and 14.5% (1,947 tonnes in the first nine months of the season. Waitrose too outperformed their market share buying 9.1% (1,222 tonnes) of all British pears, which is around double their market share of 4.6%.
Figure 4. British pear sales from BAPL growers to UK supermarkets from September 2024 to May 2025 inclusive (tonnes)
Figure 5. British pear sales from BAPL growers to UK supermarkets (Sep 2024 to May 2025)
| British pear sales (tonnes) Sep 2024 to May 2025 | Percentage of total British pear sales | |
| Sainsbury’s | 4,935 | 36.7% |
| Lidl | 2,660 | 19.8% |
| Aldi | 1,947 | 14.5% |
| Tesco | 1,778 | 13.2% |
| Waitrose | 1,222 | 9.1% |
| Co-op | 406 | 3.0% |
| M&S | 363 | 2.7% |
| Others | 95 | 0.7% |
| Morrisons | 30 | 0.2% |
| Asda | 23 | 0.2% |
| Iceland | 0 | 0.0% |
“We may be in the final stages of the 2024 season sales, but we know there are good stocks of British apples in store and that means there is still everything to play for,” continued Ali Capper. “However, the number one complaint we hear from shoppers is that they cannot find British apples in-store. We know they are there, but union jacks are not prominent enough and apple variety information is too small, so this is a plea to all retailers to make it easier to find British apples and pears.”
BAPL announces its retailer of the year in September. Monthly sales data will continue to be published on here: https://www.britishapplesandpears.co.uk/supermarket-sales-data/