26/04/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended higher on Wednesday, as buying interest poured in after the midday break on bullish factors including recovering exports and tight soybean supply. 

Another sign of improving demand is the smaller fall of three percent in Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 25 days of the month, versus a decline of 5 percent for the period April 1-20.  

Tight soybean supply in drought-hit South America remains a key bullish factor for palm oil. On Tuesday, Hamburg-based oilseeds analyst Oil World has again cut its forecast for Argentina's 2012 soybean crop, this time by 1.5 million tonnes.

"The market ends higher on its failure to crack support levels and there is a lack of producers selling," a trader with a domestic commodities brokerage in Malaysia said. "There is also anticipation of stronger soybean and beanoil prices in the CBOT on the Argentine weather and Chinese demand." 

Benchmark July palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 1.4 percent at 3,511 ringgit ($1,148) per tonne. 

Traded volumes stood at 22,353 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly lower than the usual 25,000 lots. 

Traders attributed the improvement in Malaysian palm oil exports to higher demand from major buyers such as India and China. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a similar 2 percent decline in palm oil exports for April 1-25 from a month ago.  

Despite the slight recovery in exports, some traders said shipments for April were still likely to be lower than a month ago. 

"April 1-25 exports are still down by 3 percent, so in the next five days how much more can be shipped (to reverse the trend)? Really not much," said a trader at a commodities house in Singapore.

Brent crude oil gained on Wednesday, with investors optimistic the U.S. Federal Reserve may offer hints of more monetary easing, supporting demand-sensitive assets.  

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for May gained 0.9 percent in Asian trade while the most active Dalian soyoil September contract inched up 0.1 percent on tight soybean supply.     

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1010 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      MAY2    3513   +40.00    3459    3515     327
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3516   +40.00    3461    3520    2388
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3511   +48.00    3453    3512   14161
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    8756   -56.00    8752    8862  238194
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP2    9928   +12.00    9918    9978  433334
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   56.17    +0.48   55.70   56.21    9336
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUN2  104.08    +0.53  103.61  104.16   12462

  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
  ($1=3.063 ringgit)