British supermarket sales up 3.6 pct in the summer - Kantar Worldpanel

LONDON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - British supermarket sales increased by 3.6 percent in the 12 weeks to Sept. 10, largely driven by higher inflation and extending a run of above-3-percent growth to six months, industry data showed on Tuesday.

Lidl grew the fastest, with an increase of 19.2 percent taking its share to a record high of 5.3 percent, Kantar Worldpanel said, while growth at rival Aldi was 15.6 percent, resulting in a share of 6.9 percent.

Of the "big four" supermarkets, market leader Tesco (Swiss: TSCO.SW - news) came out on top, with sales up 2.7 percent, although its share was squeezed by 0.3 percentage points to 27.8 percent.

Sainsbury (Amsterdam: SJ6.AS - news) 's sales were up 2.1 percent, Asda rose 1.5 percent and Morrisons was up 2.3 percent, Kantar said.

Food inflation was 3.2 percent, compared with 3.3 percent in the previous period.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton)