He returned to England where he subsequently became chairman and managing director of Hecht, Levis and Kahn, a major rubber and commodities company.

Such a landing could be disastrous for commodities companies, which have profited from some of the strongest global demand for resources in decades.

Until last year, Mr. Roig was a vice president of Bunge & Born, an international commodities company here.

They cited a variety of reasons, including no spare cash, no interest in commodities companies and no patience for the company to rebound.

Louis Dreyfus, a French commodities company, recently purchased a processing plant in Winter Garden.

"Many times the stocks start to improve before it's apparent the recession is over," Mr. Schreiber said, referring to railroads and cyclical commodities companies.

Hence the name of his principal commodities company is Eastern Europe Inc.

And Metallgesellschaft A. G., the German commodities company, has lost at least $500 million from oil futures.

He is best known for founding the commodities company Glencore.

"I was never out to consciously usurp Tendler's power or run a commodities company," Gutfreund says.