Wheat prices have seen the biggest one-month jump in more than three decades on the back of a severe drought in Russia, prompting warnings by the food industry of rising prices for flour-related products such as bread and biscuits.

Food executives are also warning about surging prices for feeding and malting barley, which could push higher the retail cost of products from poultry to beer.

European wheat prices jumped 8 per cent yesterday to €211 a tonne, the highest in two years. Wheat prices have risen nearly 50 per cent since late June. Crop failures and a price rally have revived memories of the 2007-08 global food crisis, which saw the cost of agricultural commodities from corn to rice surge to record highs and food riots in countries from Haiti to Bangladesh.