Britons will soon be spending more on their morning toast and Italians forking out more for their evening spaghetti as wheat markets soar in Europe, stoking fears of food price inflation.

International wheat prices are at their highest for more than 10 years on a mixture of tight supplies caused by drought around the world and increasing demand thanks to more and more grains being used to make biofuels.

In Europe, the wheat price has jumped to almost €190 a tonne from around €130 in a little more than three months.

Bread and pasta makers now say they are forced to pass those costs on to the consumer.

Britain's Premier Foods, owner of the Hovis bread brand, said this week the wheat costs this spring would likely force a rise in the price of a loaf soon.

"We anticipate that we will need to recover the increased wheat costs we have seen since February through pricing in the coming weeks," the company said in a trading update.

Britain's millers need 5.5 million tonnes of wheat a year to make the 4.5 million tonnes of flour for the 12 million loaves sold each day in the country. Local wheat prices have jumped to £130 a tonne from £80 in the last year. "These price hikes in food are likely to trigger inflation in food prices as processors are forced to pay increased costs for basic ingredients," said Mark Hill, food and agriculture partner at consultancy firm Deloitte.

But Mr Hill noted that wheat costs represented just 10 per cent of the price of a loaf, reducing the impact.

"While wheat prices have increased by 50 per cent, the effect on bread prices is moderate," he said.

"This means for every £10 per tonne increase in the wheat price, the cost of making a loaf of bread is likely to increase by one pence."

And in France, the wheat growers association AGBP said the rise in the wheat price since the second half of last year has had an impact of just 1.2 per cent on the price of a baguette.

Italian pasta makers said their sector was on the edge of crisis after a 30-40 per cent surge in durum wheat this year.

"Rise of durum wheat and semolina (durum flour) in the last few weeks... threatens a crisis for one of the most solid sectors of 'Made in Italy'," the pasta makers union Unipi said.