English Apples & Pears's retail surveillance team has reported improved shelf space figures for UK top fruit in November so far. And some multiples are marketing the crop with renewed vigour.

The FoE survey published on November 16 found that the majority of UK supermarkets were sourcing most of their top fruit from abroad.

Waitrose was the only exception to the rule in the survey, which was carried out in 130 stores in late October and early November. Some 71 per cent of store's apple and pear lines were UK-produced.

Tesco and Safeway came bottom: only 25 per cent of Safeway's apples and pears were from the UK compared to 31 per cent of Tesco's.

Safeway's spokeswoman told the Journal: 'We are major supporters of English apple growers and one in three of the apples we sell are British. We have sold more British apples than ever before with sales of Cox up 73 per cent on last year... We have also increased our range this year, stocking English Gala for the first time in many years.' Tesco buyer Simon Latham said: 'We've stocked more British fruit this year than we ever have before... Over 55,000 cases of British apples have been sold in our stores every week throughout the season... Our aim is to stock 35 per cent of the total British Cox apple crop and we're working hard to reach this goal.' The message in the FoE report was the same one being broadcast by growers. 'Clearly there has been a problem in translating the good intentions at retailers' head office level into actions at store level in too many stores,' said Adrian Barlow of EAP.

But Safeway claims it is addressing the issue. 'We sat down with English Apples & Pears at the beginning of the season to put together a marketing plan,' said the store's spokeswoman. 'We are running an inter-store competition for the best display of English apples with prizes available from head office. We have also been running price promotions on an English line of apples each week to encourage shoppers to buy English. And last month we launched a local apple labelling scheme.' EAP and the two biggest English top fruit suppliers, Worldwide Fruit and Orchard World, wrote to the major multiples the same day the FoE report was released. 'It is not fair to criticise the multiples for running a business, but it is fair to go to them and ask for something that is mutually productive,' said Alasdair Robertson, md of Worldwide Fruit. 'Consumers have a desire to purchase English fruit and this industry has a need, so we need to sit down with the retailers and find what it is that we can do to meet that need and that desire.' But as the Journal went to press, the situation was improving. EAP reported that its retail surveillance found a 28 per cent increase in the first two weeks of November for space devoted to Cox.

'Not only are we getting more space, but it is better space too, with positioning improved,' said Barlow. 'It is also encouraging that of those stores that were not doing so well, many have improved.' Somerfield came in second behind Waitrose in the FoE report with 43 per cent, as did Asda. Sainsbury's was fourth with 38 per cent and M&S and the Co-op notched up 33 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

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