Mike Baker with the IOC courier bike & Carl Lomas at the East Midlands heads of industry meeting.

Since the start of 2014, the industry benchmark for wholesale diesel prices, ULSD10, has fallen from around 50p per litre to under 20p per litre as at December 2015. The fall has been so significant that there has been speculation that the Chancellor may look to cash in by increasing fuel duty to above the current rate of 57.95p per litre. Whether this will eventuate given that motorists have only recently started paying less than a pound per litre on supermarket forecourts remains to be seen. Reuters reported in late 2015 that OPEC is determined to keep pumping oil vigorously despite the resulting financial strain. Each of the 31 respondents to the Reuters monthly oil poll updated in December forecasted that Brent crude oil prices would increase in the coming year, despite around a third of respondents lowering their forecasts for 2016.

Mike Baker from the Treasury Solutions team at Clydesdale Bank spoke at the IOC Heads of Industry Oct briefing and has more recently reported  a number of new SME customers with consumption of 50,000+ litres per month using Average Rate Diesel Swaps for the first time in order to help them budget with certainty and protect their businesses from fuel price spikes in 2016 and beyond.

For further information see the Clydesdale Bank website or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.