BRADFORD-based Morrisons has achieved the strongest sales of the big four grocers, according to latest market share data.

Supermarkets have seen their highest sales growth in five years, with Morrisons seeing a 3.7 per cent increase despite its market share slipping back by 0.2 percentage points to 10.6 per cent.

Sainsbury’s increased sales by 3.1 per cent and Asda continued its recent recovery with sales up 2.2 per cent.

Tesco enjoyed its fastest sales increase since April 2012 at 3.5 per cent, attracting an extra 369,000 shoppers, although its market share is down 0.4 percentage points since June last year to 27.8 per cent.

Lidl pipped Aldi to the title of the UK’s fastest growing supermarket for the first time since March, with sales growth of 18.8 per cent just ahead of its rival’s 18.7 per cent.

The Co-op’s full two years of continuous growth saw sales up 2.2 per cent.

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It comes as new analysis showed that inflation has added the equivalent of seven extra shops to the average household’s annual grocery bill.

Supermarket sales growth accelerated to five per cent over the three months to June 18 - the strongest increase since March 2012 and a stark contrast to the 0.2 per cent decline seen this time last year - despite the ongoing political and economic uncertainty, Kantar Worldpanel grocery market share data reveals.

The robust growth was “partly” helped by grocery inflation increasing to 3.2 per cent.

That added £133 to the average household shopping bill.

Butter is almost 20 per cent more expensive than last year while farmed salmon supply issues contributed to a 14 per cent price rise across fresh and tinned fish.

However recent spates of hot weather saw sales of ice cream and cider increase by 12 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, even ahead of the recent heatwave.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, said: “The market’s robust performance this period is partly down to particularly weak sales growth last year and a continuing increase in like-for-like grocery inflation, which is now running at 3.2 per cent.

“At this rate, that’s an extra £133 on the average household’s annual shopping bill, or the equivalent of seven additional shopping trips a year.”