Prices of potato crisps, margarine, bakery goods, frozen chips and other foods could be set to jump, due to rising costs of a key ingredient.
The cost of sunflower oil has risen to a 20-year high and looks likely to climb higher, because of poor growing weather in Europe this summer.
Heat across the continent has cut sunflower yields in top producers Ukraine and Russia, as well as Greece, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Southern hemisphere producers, Argentina and South Africa, have also harvested smaller sunflower crops.
The price of refined sunflower oil in the UK jumped to £680 a tonne on Wednesday from what was already a seven-year high of £625 a tonne the day before.
The cost of sunflower oil has risen to a 20-year high and looks likely to climb higher, because of poor growing weather in Europe this summer.
Heat across the continent has cut sunflower yields in top producers Ukraine and Russia, as well as Greece, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Southern hemisphere producers, Argentina and South Africa, have also harvested smaller sunflower crops.
The price of refined sunflower oil in the UK jumped to £680 a tonne on Wednesday from what was already a seven-year high of £625 a tonne the day before.
