31/10/2012 (Reuters) - Palm oil futures fell to a near 2-week low on Tuesday as investors feared lower November export taxes in top producer Indonesia could shift demand away from competitor Malaysia while  fretting over a slowing global economy.

Prices of the edible oil also came under pressure from weaker Brent crude as Sandy, one of the worst storms to hit the United States in years, shuttered U.S. refineries, curbing energy demand in the world's largest economy and weighing on other commodity markets.

"At the moment, we don't see any supportive news for palm oil. Prices are likely to stay choppy in a range of 2,430 to 2,600 ringgit," said Phillip Futures analyst Ker Chung Yang in Singapore.

"The tax cut will hurt Malaysia's palm oil prices as Indonesia's palm oil becomes more competitive in the near future. Malaysian players will certainly hope that the government will do more to counter such an act from Indonesia."

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 1.8 percent to 2,501 ringgit ($820) per tonne after dropping as low as 2,491 ringgit, a level unseen since Oct. 18.

Total traded volumes stood at 33,602 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Palm oil prices may still target 2,379 ringgit per tonne, as a rebound from the Oct. 3 low of 2,230 ringgit has been completed and a preceding downtrend has resumed, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Brent crude hovered above $109 a barrel on Tuesday due to the storm, and analysts expect weaker crude oil to weigh on the whole commodities asset class.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for December delivery inched up 0.2 percent in early Asian trade. The most-active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.3 percent.  

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1005 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      NOV2    2392   -33.00    2379    2410     216
  MY PALM OIL      DEC2    2451   -41.00    2440    2471    1938
  MY PALM OIL      JAN3    2501   -47.00    2491    2519   21199
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    7012  -102.00    6980    7094  389154
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    9012   -26.00    8972    9032  499330
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC2   50.29    +0.11   50.10   50.51    4911
  NYMEX CRUDE      DEC2   85.73    +0.19   85.10   85.83   13789

  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=3.05 ringgit)