(Bloomberg) -- Wheat climbed to a nine-year high in Chicago on worries about potential supply disruptions in the Black Sea region, further buoying costs of food staples around the world. The escalating crisis over Ukraine has sparked fears that shipments could be affected from the country and Russia, which are heavyweights of global grains trade. Any restrictions could threaten a vital source of supply at a time when unfavorable weather and robust demand have already reduced crop stockpiles. Wheat futures rose as much as 2.8% to $8.7675 a bushel, the highest since 2012. “I don’t know how high we’re going,” said Jack Scoville, vice president of Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago. “It’s really going to depend just on how much this crisis spins out of hand.” The West has imposed limited sanctions on Russia following Moscow’s recognition of two breakaway regions and an order to send in what President Vladimir Putin called “peacekeeping forces,” though officials warned penalties could be scaled up. Russia has denied it intends to invade Ukraine. So far, vessel traffic from the Black and Azov seas -- the key hub for Ukrainian and Russian crop exports -- has continued as usual, according to Kyiv-based consultant UkrAgroConsult. The pace from Ukraine is in line with last year’s bumper harvest, although fresh demand has waned, it said. Other key crops like soybeans are also near multiyear highs, pushing a Bloomberg gauge of agriculture spot prices to a record. Food producers have also been hit by rising energy, transport and labor expenses. That’s feeding through to prices at grocery stores and further squeezing household budgets that have been strained by rising inflation. (Adds analyst quote in fourth paragraph.) ©2022 Bloomberg L.P.