30/10/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures dropped on Monday after a long weekend break, as losses in other vegetable oil markets during the holiday and an export tax cut by Indonesia prompted traders to book profit.

Last Friday, U.S. soyoil lost 1 percent while the China soyoil contract edged down 1.4 percent. Malaysian financial markets were closed for the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Selling pressure also mounted after the midday break on news that Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, would cut its palm export tax for November, a move that could hamper demand for Malaysian products.

Indonesia will cut the export tax to 9 percent, down from 13.5 percent in October, and lower the export tax for refined palm olein to 3 percent in November from 6 percent in October. "Part of the fall is due to the market catching up after the holiday. The significantly lower export duty by Indonesia also put some pressure on prices," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. 

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 2.4 percent to close at 2,540 ringgit ($831) per tonne.

Total traded volumes stood at 36,345 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.    

Palm oil prices rose to a near 1-month high at 2,615 ringgit last Thursday, after cargo surveyors reported higher Malaysia's palm exports for Oct. 1-25 compared to a month ago.

Traders will be looking for more trading cues from the full-month exports figure for October on Wednesday.

Technicals were bearish as a bullish target at 2,676 ringgit per tonne has been aborted, and a target at 2,379 ringgit has been established, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Brent crude oil fell below $109 a barrel on Monday as refineries along the U.S. East Coast wound down operations ahead of the approach of Hurricane Sandy, reducing crude use in the world's largest oil consumer.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for December delivery edged down 0.7 percent in late Asian trade. The most-active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 1.4 percent lower.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1003 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      NOV2    2425   -75.00    2412    2435     434
  MY PALM OIL      DEC2    2492   -69.00    2483    2510    4480
  MY PALM OIL      JAN3    2540   -63.00    2525    2553   20307
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    7064  -132.00    7060    7158  319642
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    9010  -124.00    9002    9076  428860
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC2   50.62    -0.34   50.36   50.99    7927
  NYMEX CRUDE      DEC2   85.50    -0.78   85.34   86.43   17501

  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=3.06 ringgit)