WHILE sunlovers are enjoying wall to wall sunshine, they could be paying for it in their supermarket bill.

Experts have warned the drought could lead to bread costing more because crops just aren’t growing.

Most of Essex has been without rainfall for more than 30 days and forecasters say the next month shows little change.

Farmers’ harvests are, therefore, beginning early, pushing down yields and pushing up prices, which is likely to be passed on to the consumer.

David Smith, master baker at De’aths, Manningtree, said the full impact will be known by late autumn with the average loaf price possibly going up by five to ten pence.

Mr Smith explained: “It is all down to the flour millers and how they can use different types of wheat from around the world.

“If you have got a poor harvest, they might have a good harvest elsewhere, such as Germany. It purely depends on what the millers want to do.”

Mr Smith said it had previously been wet weather which had hit farmers as they had to spend more money drying grain which sent prices up.

He added: “Bakers are very shy in putting prices up. Other years we have absorbed price increases - by making savings elsewhere - but obviously we can’t do that forever.”

Henry Matthews, lecturer in agriculture at Writtle University College, said the main issue is crops have stopped growing as there is no water.

“This is leading to the crops dying off early which means that farmers are having to harvest early with lower yields. With a cold winter and a late, wet spring, the growing period has been drastically reduced.

“The compensation to the lower yields is that prices have risen.

“The price of wheat has gone up by £20 to £30 per tonne.

“That price is also affected by world influencers such as the anticipated harvest in America and Russia.

“As a result of the wheat prices going up, the cost of wheat products such as bread is likely to go up, as the price rise is passed onto consumers.”

Anglian Water and Affinity said hosepipe bans would be unlikely having continually monitored their networks with long term plans in place to manage water resources.

“Water levels in our reservoirs and groundwater stores are healthy and in some cases above average,” a spokesman added.

Adam Drury, Weatherquest forecaster, said the reading for the Writtle station showed no rain for the last 32 days and high pressure was to blame.

For the next four weeks, there could be just 10 to15 mms of rain.

“Next week there is a chance of some rain which will still be below average rainfall for most of the Essex region. The first few weeks of August will still be below average rainfall.”

The average rainfall for July is usually 44mms - but it has been zero and the average for August is 52mms, with 10 to15 mms expected.