Discounters Set The Pace For British Apples

Aldi and Lidl led supermarket purchases of British apples in September, with both discounters taking a substantially larger share of home-grown fruit than their overall grocery market shares.

Figures from British Apples & Pears Limited (BAPL) put Aldi at the top of the purchasing table, buying approximately 2,000 tonnes during September 2026. That represented around 22% of British apples supplied by BAPL growers, compared with the retailer’s grocery market share of roughly 11%.

Lidl followed with approximately 1,750 tonnes, ahead of Tesco on around 1,700 tonnes and Sainsbury’s on approximately 1,550 tonnes. Lidl accounted for roughly 20% of British apple supplies in the analysis, against a grocery market share of around 9%.

Sainsbury’s and Waitrose also took higher proportions of British apples than their grocery market shares, while Tesco’s proportion was lower.

The September results follow a closely fought contest over the previous season. Tesco won BAPL’s 2026 award for the highest British apple sales, recording 34,436 tonnes across 2025/26 — just 190 tonnes ahead of Aldi’s record 34,246 tonnes.

Across that season, BAPL growers supplied a record 162,331 tonnes of British apples to supermarkets, up 8.6% on 2024/25. Aldi received the organisation’s British Apple Market Outperformance award, while Lidl won the award for the highest early-season apple sales.

BAPL’s monthly figures* measure the quantity of British apples sold by its growers to UK supermarkets. Its comparison with grocery market share provides a benchmark for assessing retailers’ purchasing of British fruit relative to their size.

*These are rounded figures reported from BAPL’s data, rather than exact tonnages. Smaller volumes were recorded for Co-op, Ocado and other retailers; Iceland had no recorded purchases for the month. The figures measure sales by BAPL growers to supermarkets, rather than consumer purchases at the tills. BAPL notes that late submissions from growers can lead to retrospective revisions.