Aldi sells the largest quantity of British apples among UK retailers, according to data from industry body British Apples & Pears (BAP).
While Aldi only holds 10.2% of grocery market share, it sold 23% of all British apples last year, representing the greatest volume of any UK supermarket.
In the year starting September 2022, Aldi sold 32,165 tonnes of British dessert apples – ahead of Tesco, which sold 28,954 tonnes, and Sainsbury’s which sold 24,448 tonnes.
“For Aldi to sell more than double the expected volume (based on grocery market share) is an excellent performance and one which we hope other retailers will emulate,” said BAP executive chair Ali Capper.
The industry body also compared apple and pear sales over the past three years in UK retailers to identify longer term support for the category.
In 2019 to 2022 crops inclusive, Sainsbury’s sold the most (117,892 tonnes), Tesco the second-most (116,869 tonnes) and Aldi the third-most (111,373 tonnes).
“It’s so important all our supermarkets get behind British farmers and our wonderful British apples and pears,” said Capper. “Buying British over imported fruit saves on food miles, and we know consumers want British if at all possible.
“When we have such wonderful fruit available in good quantities, that will store well, there really is no reason to look overseas,” she added. “It would be great to see every retailer making it much easier for the shopper to find British apples and pears in their stores and online.”
This comes as the average profitability of the UK’s major apple growers dropped by 133% over the past year, data from BAP revealed.
Each one of the sector’s six major growers had suffered a significant reduction in profit with many incurring substantial losses, analysis of Companies House data (comparing 2021 and 2022 accounts) showed.
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