Europe's wheat crop, making up a fifth of global output, is under threat in the U.K., France and Germany from the driest growing conditions in at least 36 years.

France's soft-wheat crop, the European Union's largest, will drop 12 percent, and German output will slide 7.2 percent, local forecasters said today. Wheat jumped 4.5 percent to the highest level since Feb. 14.

Smaller-than-expected harvests may boost wheat prices that already rose 59 percent in a year after crops were hurt in the last growing season by floods in Canada and drought in Russia. This year, China is contending with drought while U.S. farmers are facing dry weather in some areas and too much rain in others. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting a second consecutive annual decline in global stockpiles.

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