| Founding Location: | Kent, United Kingdom |
| Location City: | Lincolnshire |
| Location Country: | United Kingdom |
| Products: | Apples |
| Formerly: | English Apples and Pears |
British Apples and Pears is the national trade body in the UK for the apple industry.
The organisation began in Kent in the early 1990s.
In April and May 1997, severe frosts damaged orchards, giving the worst crop since 1934. Instead of 300,000 tonnes, output was expected at around 150,000 tonnes.[1]
In 2010 it represented around 400 growers across country.[2]
In 2014, the UK was the 39th largest producer of apples in the world. It produced 202,900 tonnes in 2012, down by half from 416,200 tonnes twenty five years before. Two-thirds of the nation's requirement for apples are imported; much of this is frozen for 12 months or more. The food industry is Britain's largest manufacturing industry, employing 1 in 8 people. In the 1970s and 1980s the EEC gave funding to British farmers for the removal of orchards. The lowest point of the British apple industry was 2003, with 143,900 tonnes produced.[3]
Since 2010 British industry advertising could not claim any health benefits of apples, if not approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).[4]
It was registered on 25 January 1990 as English Apples and Pears (EAP), its former name. The name changed on 9 October 2019.[5]
It moved from Kent to Lincolnshire in December 2017.