New fears of a global glut in the grain market?

There have been concerns in recent days that rising violence in the Middle East could affect supplies to the region, including from Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter and an ally of Iran, Commonwealth Bank analyst Denis Voznesensky said. What's more, there were explosions over an Iranian city on Friday that many described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran downplayed the incident and said it had no plans to retaliate -- a response that appeared to be aimed at averting a region-wide war. That had an immediate impact on oil, which fell on Friday after prices jumped earlier on reports that Israel had attacked Iran. By the end of the day, market fears of a major escalation of hostilities in the Middle East appeared to have eased. Still, oil prices continue to put upward pressure on ethanol and its feedstocks, which include corn and soybeans. Wheat prices remain under pressure from strong supplies of wheat from Russia, soybeans from South America and corn from South America and ...