Business Notes COMMODITIES

Clamor is the usual condition in commodities pits. Last week, however, the soy-bean trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade erupted in pandemonium as the C.B.O.T. issued an emergency order, its first in a decade, that July futures contracts in excess of 1 million bu. be liquidated. In one day soybean-futures prices plunged 5%, to $6.86 per bu. Traders speculated that a single buyer was trying to corner the market or drive up prices. The suspected culprit: Ferruzzi Finanziaria, Italy's second largest privately held company and the third largest U.S. soybean processor since it bought Indiana-based Central Soya in 1987.

Ferruzzi says its purchases -- a reported 30 million bu. of soybeans in the past 18 months -- were a legal effort to ensure adequate supplies for its customers. Many traders believe Ferruzzi's two largest U.S. rivals, Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Ill., and Cargill of Minneapolis, felt the pinch from rising prices and complained to the c.b.o.t. Said one trader: "Older, established firms ganged up on the new, foreign kid on the block." With prices taking a near panic dive, Ferruzzi has already lost an estimated $10 million. Harder hit may be U.S. soybean farmers, who last week saw the value of their total crop fall an estimated $500 million.