UK apple growers predict strong season after bumper summer
25th September 2025
Growers predict that excellent summer for fruit quality and productivity will continue into the autumn.
The prediction from UK apple growers follows almost perfect growing conditions that saw long hours of sunshine during the summer and plenty of rainfall in recent weeks.
According to Tesco, the great fruit-growing conditions have led to high-quality, bumper crops of British-grown strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and cherries, leading to high demand for shoppers.
The great quality this summer has led directly to the supermarket seeing strong volume growth for many of the UK’s favourite summer fruits, with demand for berries up 10% on last summer and cherries up by 35%.
One of best summers for British-grown fruit
Now apples are set to follow, with many growers forecasting a very strong yield of high-quality fruit landing on supermarket shelves over the autumn months.
After speaking with its suppliers and growers, Tesco is predicting British apple demand to be up 10% compared to last season.
Tesco apple buyer Paul Curtis said: “We’ve had one of the best summers for British-grown fruit in recent years, with lots of sunshine helping to raise sugar levels and create classic berries and cherries.
“That’s clearly gone down well with shoppers, resulting in high demand throughout the summer months. But there’s more good news on the way for the start of the apple season with our growers reporting great quality fruit coming through.”
One of the UK’s biggest apple growers, Adrian Scripps, based near Tonbridge in Kent, said that the excellent growing conditions have produced one of the best quality crops in recent years.
He explained that the warmer weather in the six to eight weeks after the apple crop had bloomed was particularly beneficial in producing classic fruit with great skin colour and a fantastic flavour.
Scripps managing director James Simpson added: “The fruit coming through is very attractive with an excellent skin finish, whereas last season we saw a level of russeting to the skin.
“Overall colour is very good with the varieties now being harvested, and this is improving markedly with the later season apples such as Kanzi and Pink Lady. The cooler nights that we usually see in September will help the fruit colour up.
“Perhaps most important of all, though, is that the flavour is fantastic, some of the best we’ve seen in recent years. This is undoubtedly due to the gloriously sunny warm weather seen through late July and August.”
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