With oil prices at a four year low, agricultural buying co-operative Anglia Farmers (AF) has launched a new fuel forward buying service to protect its members from future volatility in the market.  

The group’s dedicated fuel team constantly monitors the global fuel markets so that its members across the UK can benefit from better pricing and to ensure that they have fuel on farm when they need it.

AF Head of Procurement (Agricultural Inputs), Peter McDonald, said: “A glut of oil combined with reduced demand from Europe and China has driven fuel prices to their lowest level since November 2010. While this is great news for farmers, historically the market has proven itself to be very volatile and we expect prices to correct upwards during 2015. AF has launched strategic forward purchasing to help protect our members’ business from this volatility.”

There is choice for members to either fix or cap prices over three or six months for a proportion of their fuel spend.

Peter explained: “The fixed price enables members to know what their fuel spend will be over a given period of time on an agreed volume. This will help our members to plan ahead as they know what their expenses will be.

“For a small premium the capped option offers a price ceiling, meaning that members won’t pay any more than the agreed rate but if the market falls they will still benefit.

“The deal is set on live market data so that once we have an agreed volume we can take it to a supplier to secure the best price available. 

“Farmers income has been effected by low grain selling prices recently. By offering our members a way to fix or cap fuel prices it’s on the less variable they have to worry about.”

The AF fuel team source more than 80 million litres of fuel per year.  This significant purchasing power, combined with specialist market knowledge, enables them to deliver the best possible price and fast delivery to their members.