Mike Baker Clydesdale (IOC Heads of industry speaker) reports the numbers exclusively for IOC...

Since the start of 2014, the industry benchmark for wholesale diesel prices, ULSD10, fell from around 50p per litre and hit a low point 12 months ago in January 2015 of around 26p. The price soon recovered to around 35p at the start of summer 2015, before falling by over half to a new low of around just 15p per litre in January 2016 due to ongoing concerns about oversupply and a gloomy start to the year in terms of global economic confidence.

These fuel price decreases have 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.