That figure is half last year's level and stunned grain traders, who guessed it would be about 10 percent higher.

Because grain traders had expected the Soviet purchases, Chicago corn prices have only recently gained from the sales, they said.

Market professionals said the order was aimed at Ferruzzi, a large European grain trader.

Her father was a grain trader and a devout Muslim, and she followed the faith's strictures into adulthood.

The grain traders reject the government's tax charges.

There, managers at nonprofit groups double as grain traders, selling the food on local markets to generate cash for development programs.

He became one of the prominent local grain traders in Palestine during the early years of the Mandate.

The growers' desperation has allowed the major grain traders to tighten their grip.

The wheat pools were successful grain traders and marketers from 1923 to 1929.

She said, "I don't want to speculate on that because I'm not a grain trader."