The boss of the biggest chicken producer in the UK has warned food prices could rise by 15 per cent as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Ronald Kers, whose 2 Sisters food firm employs 14,000 people and specialises in poultry and chilled foods, said he was already paying 50% more for chicken from farms.

With Russia and Ukraine producing a third of the world’s wheat, much of it used for animal feed, there are fears the conflict will have lasting consequences for supermarket prices.

The leading UK flour producer GR Wright & Sons has also warned it is “absolutely certain” to raise its prices as the war worsens the cost of living crisis.

The rising price of energy, oil and gas are also driving up food production and transport costs which will inevitably be passed on to consumers.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who delivers a spring mini-budget on March 23, has been warned inflation could near 10 per cent this spring, its highest level in decades. 

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Kers said that if the war continued for months it could fundamentally alter the UK food market, with the country importing less and producing more at home.

He said: “We need to work together with all supply chain partners to find a solution... it's a very complex issue."

Mr Kers also suggested Brexit had made things more difficult, with a bigger administrative burden for farmers and less alignment on rules with food companies on the continent.

David Wright, managing director of GR Wright, which has almost half the market share for the UK’s bread mixes, said its costs jumped 30% between September and December.

He told BBC Breakfast: “Now we have a similar increase [in price due to Ukraine], but instead of it taking four months it has taken two weeks.

"The price is so high so quickly that if you don't put the price of flour up, businesses will go out of business - it's as simple as that.”

The National Farmers Union has also been sounding the alarm about food price inflation.

NFU president Minette Batters told the BBC last week the whole world had to realise this was “not something we've faced before”, with unprecedented wheat price inflation.

According to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, UK feed wheat prices are already 39% up on March last year.

The Resolution Foundation think tank warned inflation could reach 10% for the poorest households because of Ukraine exacerbating the cost of living crisis, as they already spent a bigger proportion of their budgets on energy and food. 

Research director James Smith said it amounted to the “biggest cost of living crisis Britains has faced in generations” and urged Mr Suak to help the poorest in his spring statement.