17/02/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures slipped on Thursday as a delay in a second bailout package for Greece raised investors' concerns, although losses were limited thanks to dry weather fears in soy-producing South America.

Prospects of lower supply in soybean due to dry weather in Brazil provided some support for palm oil that competes with soyoil for use in biofuels and food. 

Slowing exports for Malaysian palm oil and uncertainty in Europe, a major palm oil consumer, has weighed on the futures market that has edged higher so far this year.

"The recent exports data showed that exports for the first 15 days are not that strong but I suspect that this could be due to the delay in the issuance of tax-free crude palm oil quota," said Ivy Ng, an analyst with Malaysia's CIMB Investment Bank.

"Exports should recover as we go into later part of the month, or if not in March," she added.

Benchmark May palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange eased 0.4 percent to close at 3,189 ringgit ($1,043) per tonne. Prices hit a high of 3,213 ringgit on Wednesday, a level last seen on Jan. 12.

Traded volumes stood at 28,778 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots for the first time this week. 

Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said palm oil will retrace to 3,118 ringgit per tonne, as a rebound from the Feb. 2 low of 3,036 ringgit has completed.

In signs of slowing demand, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysian palm oil exports from Feb. 1 to 15 fell 14 percent to 509,107 tonnes from a month ago.

That was a higher quantum compared to the first ten days of February when exports fell by 4.3 percent comapred to the same period a month ago.

But crude palm oil demand picked up, which market players attributed to the tax-free export quotas of 3 million tonnes that were issued early this February after weeks of delay.

Brent crude reversed earlier gains and drifted below $119 on Thursday after hitting multiple-month highs in the previous day as fears of a delay in a second bailout package for Greece weighed down global markets.

The Greek bailout delay also weighed on other vegetable oil markets.

The U.S. soyoil contract for March delivery fell in Asian trade after rising in the previous session on stronger export demand in soybeans as China sealed record deals amid dry weather threatening south American soy crops.

The most active September 2012 soyoil contract, on China's Dalian Commodity exchange dropped 0.8 percent.      

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1000 GMT
                                                                                                                                      
  Contract                     Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL            MAR2    3175    -5.00    3151    3185     412
  MY PALM OIL            APR2    3186   -11.00    3166    3198    6784
  MY PALM OIL            MAY2    3189   -12.00    3169    3202   12111
  CHINA PALM OLEIN  SEP2    8218   -66.00    8172    8278  120152
  CHINA SOYOIL          SEP2    9252   -74.00    9200    9330  371452
  CBOT SOY OIL          MAR2   52.82    -0.53   52.56   53.37    7017
  NYMEX CRUDE         MAR2  101.23    -0.58  101.02  101.95   16732
                                                                  
  Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
  CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
  Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
          
* Bursa Malaysia holds its annual Palm and Lauric Oils
Conference & Exhibition Price Outlook 2012 from March 5 to 7 in
Kuala Lumpur. For details, see www.pocmalaysia.com
($1=3.057 ringgit)