Brasília, 7 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Brazil is moving ahead with a studies that it will use in its case against US farm subsidies at the World Trade Organization. According to minister of Agriculture, Pratini de Morais, "We have already decided to take our case to the WTO. What remains to be done is a precise calculation of our losses due to the Farm Bill, which was just passed." Preliminary estimates are that soybean losses due to US subsidies, between 1998 and 2001, were over US$1 billion. The government has not decided if the case will include cotton and sugar subsidies, or only soybean.

After a Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) meeting yesterday, minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Sergio Amaral, Brazil may also question at the WTO European farm subsidies. (AB)