Sales of English apples to the multiples rose 11.2 per cent in the 2015-16 season, new figures show, with further increases expected this year.
Final season figures from trade body English Apples & Pears reveal that Sainsbury’s was the leading retailer of English top fruit, with a 26.8 per cent share, followed by Tesco, which achieved 25.6 per cent.
EAP chairman Adrian Barlow praised Tesco for “doing a fantastic job and selling every English apple they could get their hands on”.
There was also praise for Waitrose, which overtraded with an 8.8 per cent share; The Co-op, which upped its share from 4.4 to 5.1 per cent; Asda, which rose from 6.3 to 8.1 per cent; and Morrisons, which increased from 8.6 to 9.3 per cent.
Other outlets – predominantly the hard discounters but also including the likes of Pret A Manger – saw their combined share rise from 10.2 to 13.2 per cent.
“That does indicate we are doing business with the hard discounters,” said Barlow. “They are a very important component of the retail arena.”
Barlow also expressed delight that English apples are being supplied to Amazon Fresh UK by OrchardWorld.
While Cox volumes came in at 19,600 tonnes in 2014-15 – up from 18,100t last year – Barlow said this did not indicate a revival in demand for the variety, and suggested the industry could do with producing a little less.
Gala production was up from 42,000t to 49,300t, Braeburn rose from 21,100t to 23,300t and other dessert apples were a “slightly disappointing” 20,500t, which was only a 300t increase.
Barlow said the slower development of newer varieties was a reflection of the problems the industry has been experiencing with canker.
Bramley production fell from 16,400t to just 13,500t on the back of reduced production and grubbed orchards following sustained poor returns to growers.
Production of Conference pears rose from 16,300t to 17,800t, and despite Barlow commenting that “we haven’t really yet cracked growing pears in Britain”, he added that there was optimism with major planting programmes taking place.
It is still early days for the 2016-17 crop. Barlow reported that the crop is around a week behind last year’s but with “very clean” Discovery coming to market. Good weather in August is expected to help with sugar and colour levels, and early indications are that the apple crop could be three per cent up on last year.
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