13/12/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures dropped to a one-month low on Wednesday, as forecasts for a higher supply of rival soybean oil stoked concerns of a global vegetable oil surplus.

The bearish view of soybean oil from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), coupled with Malaysia's record high palm oil stocks in November, have put palm oil futures on track for their steepest annual loss since 2008.

"CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) soyoil came down yesterday by about 90 points, and there were some traders who were trying to break the previous low," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.       

At the close, the benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 2.3 percent to 2,238 ringgit ($730) per tonne, slightly off a low at 2,229 ringgit, a level unseen since Nov. 12. 

Total traded volumes stood at 35,105 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Traders are looking out for Malaysia's new crude palm oil export tax that will be formalised in a gazette on Dec. 17 under a new tax structure that aims to claw back market share from top producer Indonesia.

Despite higher supply of global vegetable oil, the steep discount between palm oil and soybean oil could stimulate high export demand for palm oil and send prices rising in early 2013, said Hamburg-based analysts Oil World.   

Palm oil imports by India, the world's top vegetable oil buyer, are likely to have fallen in November from October levels, which were the highest in at le/ast three years, as demand shrank with the start of cold weather that solidifies the oil, a Reuters survey showed.  

In a bullish sign for palm oil, Brent crude held above $108 a barrel on Wednesday as OPEC reduced oil supply, although
rising output from the United States and uncertainty about its budget for next year limited price gains.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for January delivery fell 0.4 percent in late Asian trade, after falling by almost 2 percent in the previous session. The most active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 1.8 percent lower.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1003 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      DEC2    2045   -42.00    2040    2060      33
  MY PALM OIL      JAN3    2141   -46.00    2130    2166     786
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2238   -53.00    2229    2266   14271
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6678  -170.00    6676    677A4  799746
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    8622  -162.00    8612    8708  532042
  CBOT SOY OIL     JAN3   50.02    -0.18   49.97   50.32    6254
  NYMEX CRUDE      JAN3   86.23    +0.44   85.68   86.29   11176

  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 Malaysian ringgit)