TURKEY'S Union of Agricultural Chambers will begin a boycott of all French agricultural products.
The boycott comes after Paris approved a law criminalising denial of the Armenian genocide.
The head of the Agricultural Union, Samsi Bayraktar, said his group represented 5.4 million Turkish farmers and it had decided on the boycott because the French decision on the Armenian issue disturbed every Turkish citizen, the Middle East Monitor reports.
"The boycott will deal a blow to co-operation between Turkish and French agronomists at both the economic and social levels," he said.
He said he looked forward to the reaction of French farmers.
According to the Turkish Statistics Institute, last year Turkey's exports to France reached $6.9 billion, with imports from France being valued at $8.6 billion.
PM backs deal
BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron has given his support to the idea of a free trade deal between the European Union and the US, suggesting a trans-Atlantic pact could deliver a boost to global commerce.
His call for a bilateral deal with Washington follows similar comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and comes amid widespread admission among global leaders that the so-called Doha round of free trade talks is dead.
"Let's get free trade agreements with India, Canada and Singapore finalised by the end of the year," Mr Cameron said last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland.
Trade experts immediately poured cold water on the idea of a trans-Atlantic trade deal.
"Running around looking for palliatives in the light of the death of Doha is governance of the headless-chicken variety," Jean-Pierre Lehmann, professor of international political economy at the IMD business school in Lausanne said.
The head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, said some differences between Washington and Brussels would be difficult to bridge.
"Agriculture? Good luck," he told reporters in Davos.
Forecasts lowered
SOYBEAN and corn growers in Brazil's southern Parana state will harvest less than previously forecast this summer due to drought.
Soybean growers will harvest 11.51 million tonnes of the oilseed, less than the 14.1 million tonnes estimated in December, the secretariat said. The corn forecast was cut to 6 million tonnes from 7.28 million, Bloomberg reported.
In Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost state, soybean growers will harvest about 8 million tonnes in the crop year that started in September, 8.7 per cent less than estimated last month.
The corn forecast was cut to 3.1 million tonnes from 3.31 million.
