On 13 November, the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet announced an increase in the wheat procurement price by nearly 4 percent to PKR 1 350 (USD 8.62) per 40 kg. The upward revision, the first in five years, mainly reflects higher costs of production but also takes into consideration additional factors such as import/export parity prices and domestic producer prices. The measure is expected to benefit farmers’ revenue and boost production of wheat, currently being planted. In addition, amid high prices of wheat flour in the domestic market, the Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Corporation Limited (PASSCO) recently started to release 900 000 tonnes of wheat onto the markets in the provinces of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.