Britain's big four supermarkets suffer sales falls

LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Britain's four biggest supermarkets suffered sales declines in the last three months, industry data showed on Wednesday, as a price war and record grocery deflation continues to hit the sector.

After recent signs of a recovery gaining momentum, Britain's biggest supermarket Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) saw sales fall back 1.0 percent in the 12 weeks to April 26, market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said.

The rest of Britain's 'big four' - Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, all of which face increasing competition from rival discounters Aldi and Lidl, saw declines of 2.2 percent, 0.2 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

The overall grocery market saw sales fall 0.2 percent, Kantar said, adding that grocery inflation stood at minus 2.1 percent for the period meaning shoppers are paying less for goods year-on-year.

Together with industry wide price cuts 532 million pounds ($808 million) less went through supermarket tills, according to Kantar. ($1 = 0.6585 pounds) (Reporting by Neil Maidment; editing by James Davey)