Buying a loaf is going to require more dough at the checkout.

Experts said an 800 gram loaf could increase by about 3 pence as wheat prices have hit 10-year highs, partly due to a drought in Australia.

Independent miller ADM Milling said it was heading towards higher prices.

ADM Milling's last price rise was in September, and experts say such rapid price increases would be "exceptionally unusual".

More dough

An ADM Milling spokesman said the company was reviewing the situation "on a daily basis in light of continued upward movement in the world wheat market".

Director of the National Association of British and Irish Millers, Alex Waugh, said all millers had been hit by the higher wheat prices.

He said it was likely others besides ADM would raise their flour prices.

The Federation of Bakers, representing large-scale bakers, said its members had already suffered from rising fuel and wheat costs.

"The general principal is that I'm afraid consumers will have to see a price increase because the bakers can no longer absorb these rising costs," said the federation's director Gordon Polson.