The privately-owned company, hurt by volatilecommodity markets, saw profits drop to $73m for the quarter versus $404m a yearago.

Itwas the worst quarter since the second quarter of fiscal 1991 when the Minneapolis-basedCargill earned $71m.

“Cargill’searnings performance was not up to our expectations, though with notableexceptions,” Cargill chief executive Greg Page said.

“Wedid not trade as well in this year’s markets, which were driven as much by theeconomic and political environment as by the fundamentals.”

Fourth-quarterrevenues