Economy
Türkiye opens nanotech facility to boost water efficiency in agriculture
A production facility for a domestically developed nanotechnology product that can lower water consumption in agriculture by up to 50% while boosting crop yields by as much as 25% has been recently inaugurated in Türkiye.
The nanomaterial technology developed by ANT Systems, following 15 years of scientific research at Sabancı University’s Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, has entered serial production at a newly established domestic facility in Istanbul with an annual capacity of 3,000 tons.
The company’s flagship product, NANOTERN, is a biodegradable nanomaterial designed to retain water in soil for longer periods and release it to plants in a controlled manner when needed.
The technology can hold up to 1,800 times its own weight in water, reducing irrigation water use by up to 50% and increasing agricultural productivity by as much as 25%.
It also improves the efficiency of fertilizers and other agricultural inputs, helping lower production costs.
NANOTERN is actively used not only in Türkiye but also in the U.S., South America, Gulf countries and Africa. The global patent portfolio of the technology is held in Türkiye.
Example of the transition from academia to industry
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (TKDK) President Ahmet Antalyalı said the initiative represents a tangible example of Türkiye’s goal of producing high technology in the agricultural sector.
Antalyalı emphasized that the project shows the transition from academia to industry can be successfully achieved, describing it as a development model in its own right.
Sabancı University Rector Yusuf Leblebici said that behind such ventures lies a strong vision and many years of dedicated effort, adding that Sakıp Sabancı’s support and the founding philosophy of the university made a meaningful contribution to the process.
Leblebici also stressed that work on technology has continued determinedly throughout the various periods of crisis the world has gone through.
ANT Systems Vice Chairperson and CEO Can Yurdakul warned that land can be lost not only through war, but also due to water scarcity, inefficiency and unsustainable production models.
“Energy, water and agriculture are now among the world’s greatest issues,” Yurdakul said.
“The agricultural sector uses roughly 70% of the world’s freshwater resources. One of the most critical questions for the future is therefore how to produce more sustainably with existing resources,” he added.
He said much of the technology globally remains at the research and development stage, while Türkiye is among the few countries producing it at an industrial scale with proven field applications.
“The issue is no longer to produce more – it is to produce more intelligently with limited resources,” he noted.
“We have built a system that does not simply use water; it manages water. Today we are talking about a Turkish technology that is in the field across five continents, from the U.S. to Africa,” he said.
Yurdakul said the company aims to transform ANT Systems from a Türkiye-based technology firm into a global standard-setting structure.
‘Technology is the only thing we can rely on against water stress’
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) after the ceremony, Parliament’s Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Affairs Committee Chairperson Vahit Kirişci highlighted the increasing average age of workers in the agricultural sector, saying technology use in farming is critical to attracting younger generations.
He said that integrating technology at every level, including nanotechnology, would make the sector more appealing to young people.
“If we make a specific assessment here, we should note that we are not a water-rich country. In a country whose water stress is no longer in doubt, we must use water in the most effective and efficient way possible,” Kirişci said.
He stressed that technological solutions are essential to ensuring efficient and loss-free use of water in agriculture.
Güler Sabancı, chair of the founding board of trustees of Sabancı University and investor in ANT Systems, said water stress caused by the climate crisis is becoming increasingly visible both globally and in Türkiye.
“In facing the climate crisis, the major disasters we are already experiencing and will experience, and the water stress we are living through – the only thing we can rely on for the future is technology, science-based research, and the successful ventures that emerge from such research. This is also what the world trusts and expects,” Sabancı said.
Sabancı said entrepreneurship and technology-focused initiatives supported at Sabancı University since 2007 have, in nearly 15 years, turned into tangible results aimed at addressing global problems.
She added that the first production facility has now moved beyond the laboratory stage and will play a key role in combating climate change.
Nanotechnology products deliver more effective results
ANT Systems Chairperson and CTO Yusuf Ziya Menceloğlu said the concept of sustainability began gaining prominence around 15 years ago, as rapid population growth accelerated resource consumption and carbon emissions, contributing to global warming and water scarcity.
“In agriculture, there is in fact a water crisis, a chemical input crisis – particularly the pesticide problem – and post-harvest storage problems,” he said.
“Today, our food losses amount to almost 5% of Türkiye’s gross national product. Food preservation and post-harvest protection are therefore very important,” he added.
Menceloğlu said the company has developed nanotechnology products for these sectors because nanomaterials allow for more effective results with less material use.
“It is for this reason – because of their high effectiveness – that they are widely accepted,” he added.
Government bonds from Tokyo to New York extended losses on Monday as rising energy prices fueled by the Iran war stoked inflation concerns and reinforced investor bets on further rate hikes by central banks worldwide.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, jumped as much as 3.6 basis points to their highest since February 2025, at 4.631%, in early Monday trading, after climbing more than 20 basis points last week.
The two-year yield, which is most sensitive to inflation and rates expectations, touched a 14-month top of 4.105%, while the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to a one-year high of 5.159%.
All three were trading just below those highs by mid-morning in Europe, still enough to cast a shadow over stock markets that have surged on the AI enthusiasm of recent weeks.
The bond selloff came on the back of a climb in oil prices on Monday, with Brent crude futures at $111 a barrel, as efforts to end the Iran war appeared to have stalled following a drone strike at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
More than two months into the war, investors are beginning to fret about the economic fallout from the conflict, fearing high energy prices will spill over into broader price rises and require central banks to raise interest rates.
Markets are now pricing in a more than 50% chance the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise rates by December, according to the CME FedWatch tool, to combat the rise in inflation. Before the war, investors had seen the Fed cutting rates this year.
Market ructions are top of mind for G-7 finance ministers who met in Paris on Monday.
“We are no longer in a period where public debt is not a subject,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told reporters as he arrived at the meeting.
Kenneth Broux, head of corporate research FX and rates at Societe Generale, said to stop what he called a “slow-motion crash” in the bond market would require a retreat in oil prices, recession fears growing enough to spark a safe-haven rush to bonds, or prices falling low enough to attract buyers.
Japan bond yields at record high
Adding to the selloff on Monday was news that Japan’s government will likely issue fresh debt as part of funding for a planned extra budget to cushion the economic blow from the war, worsening already strained government finances.
Yields on the 30-year Japanese government bond (JGB) jumped more than 10 basis points (bps) to their highest on record at 4.200%, while the 10-year yield touched its highest since October 1996 at 2.800%.
DBS senior rates strategist Eugene Leow said news of the extra budget would compound current bond market anxieties.
“Sentiment was already weak heading into last week’s close. Additional fiscal spending from Japan definitely worsened matters,” Leow said.
“This feels like a rolling re-pricing across curves in the region as investors grapple with inflation worries.”
Eurozone bonds were also under pressure, with Germany’s 10- year yield, the benchmark for the currency bloc, hitting a 15-year top of 3.193%, extending last week’s 14 bp gain.
Markets see an 80% chance the European Central Bank (ECB) will raise interest rates next month and are pricing three such moves by year-end. Before the war, the ECB was expected to remain on hold this year.
Inflationary pressures coming through
Monday’s bond rout followed a steep selloff last week, as investors were spooked by a recent raft of hotter-than-expected inflation figures globally, particularly in the United States.
“The fact that we are now seeing data backing up inflationary fears that have been in the market since the Middle East conflict started I think is key,” said Nick Twidale, chief markets analyst at ATFX Global.
Data last week showed U.S. consumer and producer prices surged in April, with similar readings seen in China, Germany and Japan.
Much emphasis had also been placed on a closely watched two-day summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, but investor hopes the talks would produce a breakthrough in the Iran war fell flat.
Though the bond rout was global, many of the drivers were at least partly local in nature.
Britain last week was at the forefront of the selloff amid domestic political upheaval as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s future was called into question after poor local election results, raising investor fears he will be forced out and replaced by a more left-wing challenger.
On Monday, however, gilts were an unusual outperformer, with the 10-year yield down 4 bps to 5.14%. It jumped 26 bps last week to an 18-year high of 5.187%.
Despite ongoing settler violence, land seizures and forced displacement of Palestinians, tourists can book stays on occupied West Bank land through Booking.com, which lists accommodations in Israeli settlements there, according to a report by the U.S.-based advocacy group Eko.
The report, titled “Booking.com: experience Israel’s illegal occupation,” found 41 accommodation listings spread across 14 Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem, ranging from private rooms and apartments to resorts and so-called luxury camping sites.
According to Eko, some properties were advertised at nightly rates exceeding $7,000, while the listings collectively had received at least 3,800 customer reviews.
The group argued that by offering such properties to international travelers, Booking is helping normalize and economically support settlements widely considered illegal under international law.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are viewed as violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention by much of the international community, including the United Nations.
Making occupation look ‘normal’
Eko said the listings were primarily concentrated in two areas: the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea region, and settlement blocs surrounding East Jerusalem.
Properties were identified in locations including Kalia, Almog, Ovnat, Mitzpe Shalem and Vered Yeriho in the Jordan Valley, where accommodations were marketed with descriptions such as “desert hospitality,” “luxury camping,” and “beach vacation.”
Additional listings were found in and around settlements such as Ma’ale Adumim, Kfar Adumim, Neve Daniel, Pisgat Ze’ev and French Hill, as well as within East Jerusalem’s Old City area.
The report said none of the listings disclosed that the properties were located on occupied land or referenced allegations that the areas had been seized from Palestinians through military confiscation, state land declarations, forced displacement, or settler violence.
“The settlement economy does not sustain itself by military force alone,” Eko said. “It depends on Israel’s ability to make occupation look normal – and tourism is one of the primary mechanisms for doing that.”
One case highlighted in the report involved land near the Palestinian town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, where Eko said property listed on Booking sits on land historically owned by the al-Sbeih family.
The report said the land, once used by the family for wheat and barley farming, now lies within the boundaries of the Israeli settlement of Neve Daniel, established in 1982.
Using geolocation data and Palestinian land registry documents, Eko researchers said they linked a Booking listing called “Mountain View” to the disputed land parcel.
The report said family members claiming legal ownership are unable to access, cultivate, or build on the land, while the accommodation is currently offered to tourists for roughly $170 per night. Title deed records at al-Khader Municipality show that the land is registered to the al-Sbeih family.
Legal complaints, calls for removal
The report comes amid heightened scrutiny of businesses operating in Israeli settlements.
Eko said human rights groups, U.N. investigators, journalists and shareholders have repeatedly raised concerns with Booking regarding settlement-related listings.
It also referenced a 2023 criminal complaint filed with Dutch prosecutors by organizations including al-Haq and SOMO, suggesting that revenues generated from settlement listings could amount to proceeds linked to war crimes and potentially constitute money laundering under Dutch law.
The groups have urged Booking to remove all listings connected to settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, conduct an independent human rights impact assessment and establish compensation mechanisms for affected Palestinian landowners.
Settler violence, displacement
The report also linked tourism activity to broader settlement expansion and displacement trends.
Citing data from the U.N.’s humanitarian office (OCHA), Eko said Israeli settlers carried out 1,828 attacks against Palestinians in 2025, averaging around five incidents per day.
It added that since 2023, thousands of Palestinians from 85 communities, many of them Bedouin or herding communities in Area C of the West Bank, have been displaced due to settler violence and movement restrictions.
Irish no-frills carrier Ryanair posted on Monday a strong rise in annual profits but warned that the Middle East war has clouded its outlook for the upcoming year.
Profit after tax jumped 35% to 2.17 billion euros ($2.52 billion) in the 12 months to the end of March compared to the period a year earlier.
CEO Michael O’Leary said it was “far too early” to provide meaningful full-year profit guidance because of “significant fuel price/potential supply volatility.”
“The conflict in the Middle East has created economic uncertainty, and we still don’t know when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen,” he said in an earnings statement.
Oil prices have soared since the start of the U.S.-Iran war in late February, resulting in much higher jet fuel costs.
Ryanair said it had hedged 80% of its fuel costs at $67 a barrel through to April 2027, which should help insulate its earnings amid “very volatile oil markets.”
But its full-year outlook remains “heavily exposed to adverse external developments,” including any escalation in the Middle East war.
Ryanair’s share price fell around 3% in Dublin.
Cost pressures
Ryanair said its costs could rise in the year ahead as it faces a higher bill for unhedged fuel costs, as well as crew expenses and aircraft maintenance.
The company also expects European Union environmental taxes to rise by 300 million euros this year.
“Under normal circumstances, Ryanair would respond to cost pressures by putting up fares and passenger charges, but the market environment is currently too fragile,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
“Consumers are spooked by oil prices shooting up,” he said, adding that “it’s made the cost of living go up, and that drives more caution towards spending.”
Coatsworth added, however, that Ryanair had “a strong enough balance sheet to weather any storms”.
In its latest financial year, revenue increased 11% to 15.5 billion euros as ticket fares rose.
But fares for its peak July-September period, previously forecast to rise, are now trending flat.
“Pricing in recent weeks has eased somewhat in response to economic uncertainty caused by higher oil prices, the fear of fuel shortages and the risk of inflation adversely impacting consumer spending,” O’Leary said.
The group carried 208 million passengers last year, marking a 4% annual increase, and is targeting 300 million passengers by 2034.
It expects traffic to rise by another 4% in the current financial year, to 216 million passengers.
The airline added that talks to extend O’Leary’s contract until April 2032 have almost concluded.
China has agreed to buy at least $17 billion of U.S. agricultural products in 2026, 2027 and 2028, the White House said in a fact sheet released on Sunday.
The commitment was made during meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, the White House said.
The $17 billion figure does not include the soybean purchase commitments China made in October 2025, the White House said.
There has been a marked reduction in U.S. agricultural exports to China after last year’s rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs sharply curtailed trade, which fell 65.7% year-over-year to $8.4 billion in 2025, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
China has dramatically scaled back its reliance on U.S. farm goods since Trump’s first term, sourcing roughly 20% of its soybeans from the U.S. in 2024, the year before he returned to office, down from 41% in 2016.
China will work with U.S. regulators to lift suspensions of U.S. beef facilities and resume imports of poultry from U.S. states determined to be free of avian influenza, the White House said.
Confirming earlier statements from the Chinese government, the White House also said on Sunday the world’s two largest economies would establish a U.S.-China Board of Trade and the U.S.-China Board of Investment.
The boards will resolve concerns over market access for agricultural products and expand trade “under a reciprocal tariff-reduction framework,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a statement last week.
The European Union is reportedly preparing plans to force companies in the bloc to buy critical components from at least three different suppliers in an attempt to curb reliance on China, according to the Financial Times on Monday.
The new rules would affect businesses in a handful of key sectors, such as chemicals and industrial machinery, the report added, citing two EU officials familiar with the matter.
Under the new legislation, companies would be limited to buying about 30% to 40% of components from a single supplier and would have to source the rest from at least three different suppliers not coming from the same country, the FT said.
This comes as China continues to use its chokehold on the processing of many minerals as leverage, at times curbing exports, suppressing prices and undercutting other countries’ ability to diversify their sources of the materials used to make semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons.
European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is planning a series of punitive tariffs on Chinese chemicals and machinery in a bid to tackle the bloc’s 1 billion euro ($1.16 billion) a day trade deficit and insulate companies from China’s “weaponization of trade,” the newspaper said.
Last month, Sefcovic signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a partnership on producing and securing critical minerals, as part of a push to loosen China’s grip on materials crucial to advanced manufacturing.
According to the FT report, these early-stage plans will be presented to a commission meeting dedicated to China on May 29 and could then be endorsed by EU leaders in late June.
A European Commission spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that it will hold an orientation debate on EU-China relations on May 29 but declined to comment on internal discussions, adding that such debates do not involve the adoption of formal proposals.
Standing behind the cash register at the Stubs liquor store, Amy Van Duyn looked through the window at a red-and-green gasoline price sign, which she said seemed to tick up daily.
The price was $4.34 per gallon – about 50% higher than it was in these parts when President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year.
“I used to fill my tank for $36,” said Van Duyn, 42. “Now $36 gets me half a tank.”
Her coworker Tonyah Bruyette said when it’s time to buy groceries, she’s left wondering where all her money went: “We’re putting it in the tank rather than on our table.”
Like most people in and around Wiggins, a farming town of 1,400 people in northeast Colorado, Van Duyn and Bruyette remain ardent supporters of the president, who won surrounding Morgan County by 49 percentage points in 2024.
Nationally, Trump’s political fortunes appear to be waning. His war with Iran has sent fuel prices soaring past $4.50 a gallon nationwide, and a Reuters/Ipsos poll last month found nearly 8 in 10 Americans hold the president responsible for higher gasoline prices.
Trump was asked this week if people’s economic woes were motivating him to reach a deal with Tehran. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” he responded. “The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Democrats seized on the comments as evidence of an administration losing touch with an anxious public. Only 30% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy as of a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, an issue that had long been one of his political strengths.
But in two dozen recent interviews along Colorado’s Highway 52 – a two-lane blacktop road punctuated by grain elevators, feedlots and oil pumpjacks – Trump voters echoed the president’s logic.
Across Morgan and Weld counties, which haven’t voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964, voters were willing to pay more for gas if it meant eliminating a possible Iranian nuclear threat. Energy prices had also spiked under formee President Joe Biden, many said.
Some begrudgingly stood by Trump because of their distaste for Democrats; others expressed faith the president had a plan to bring costs down. It was a testament to the durable, personal bond Trump has built with his base, allowing him to weather multiple crises across his two terms.
“It feels like he hears us,” said Bruyette, “that he is fighting for us.”
‘Willing to sacrifice’
About 25 miles southwest of Wiggins, Jim Miller was elbows-deep in the engine of his ailing Dodge pickup.
A 65-year-old retired commodities broker raised in the liberal city of Boulder who now lives in tiny Prospect Valley, Miller considers himself “half-hippie, half-cowboy.”
He said enduring the momentary pain of high gas prices was worth preventing Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. Miller recalled stories of American resilience during World War II, when goods were rationed and households lived with less.
“I struggle, like everybody else does, but I’m willing to sacrifice a little,” Miller said. “That’s been totally lost in this country, people’s willingness to sacrifice.”
In the unincorporated town of Roggen was Mike Urbanowicz, a 66-year-old trader with multiple college degrees whose farming cooperative moves 150 truckloads of grain each day.
He voted three times for Trump, but like many interviewed by Reuters, he considers himself a political independent, saying he distrusts the Republican Party nearly as much as their Democratic foes.
Gas prices were hurting his industry, he said, and Trump was “naive” to think he could quickly solve the issue. He expected prices would remain high into the fall, even if there was a breakthrough in stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks.
But he preferred the status quo to Democrats, whom he saw as moving towards “full-blown socialism.”
“I voted for Trump because the alternative is so bad,” he said.
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