WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Political instability in Ukraine —coupled with potential freeze damage to winter wheat in the United States and a deepening drought in some major wheat producing countries — are conspiring to significantly drive up wheat prices, economists say.

U.S. Wheat Associates, the industry’s trade group, said in a recent report that concern over the political situation in Ukraine — which supplies 6 percent of the world’s wheat export market — was one of the factors for the price spikes. Crimea accounted last year for about 7 percent of Ukraine’s grain exports. The Black Sea region is one of the world’s major wheat producing areas, with Russian wheat alone accounting for almost 11 percent of the world’s export market.