Currency forward contracts “lock in” the exchange rate of a future payment in a foreign currency. For example, suppose you are an Australian importer of British woollens and have just ordered next year’s inventory. Payment of £100M is due in one year, which at an AUDGBP exchange rate of 0.5 means a dollar outflow of $200M. But if the exchange rate moves to 0.45, your inventory cost in dollars will increase by $22m, which could mean a hit of over 10% to your bottom line. To avoid this exchange rate risk, you could enter into a forward contract to buy £100M sterling in a year’s time at today’s exchange rate.