The Willand-based company, which produces 500,000 chicken a week, claims it is having to pay around 40 per cent more for wheat than at this time last year, which means production costs have escalated and consequently the retail price of chicken will have to rise.

Andrew Maunder, Lloyd Maunder's commercial director, said: "The wheat crisis is global, but there are very immediate implications for the food and farming industries in the West Country.

"Fifty years ago chicken was a luxury, but the price has been getting lower and lower and today it's a relatively cheap commodity. "We're hoping a few extra pence shouldn't be that difficult to swallow if shoppers understand it's helping keep farmers on the land and in business."