17/01/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose to their highest in over a week on Wednesday on investor optimism a zero-duty tax structure will spur exports from the world's No.2 producer and help boost global demand for the tropical oil.

The positive sentiment was also buoyed by seasonally slowing production which could help curb stockpiles that hit a new record of 2.63 million tonnes in December.

The Malaysian government announced on Tuesday that it will retain its crude palm oil export tax at zero percent for February, the same as January, in an effort to give a competitive edge over top producer and biggest rival Indonesia.

"Indonesia's crude palm oil is now pricier than Malaysian crude palm oil. So Malaysian exports will definitely pick up," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.

"Most traders are trading on the forward view. Even though exports are not looking so good now, but with the overall drop in production, we are expecting stocks to be lower in February or March," the trader added.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.5 percent higher at 2,428 ringgit ($804) per tonne. Prices had earlier touched 2,444 ringgit, the highest level seen since Jan. 7.

Total traded volume stood at 35,249 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Technical analysis showed that Malaysian palm oil may test a resistance of 2,449 ringgit per tonne, a break above which will lead to a further gain to 2,522 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Weaker winter demand from Europe and China had taken a toll on palm oil exports, causing shipments to fall more than 20 percent in the first 15 days of January. Palm oil tends to solidify in cold temperatures.

But with warmer weather on its way, traders expect demand to pick up in the next few weeks.

"Moving forward, it can only improve -- it will not go worse. The weather is getting warmer and you will see more imports going into China," the trader added.

Brent crude rose towards $111 a barrel on Wednesday after robust U.S. retail sales boosted hopes for stronger demand in the world's top oil consumer, while oil inventories there rose much less than expected.

U.S. soyoil for March delivery rose 0.2 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange edged up 0.4 percent.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1005 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2384    +9.00    2379    2393     677
  MY PALM OIL      MAR3    2418   +20.00    2409    2430    8460
  MY PALM OIL      APR3    2428   +13.00    2423    2444   15882
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6776   +26.00    6740    6800  399654
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    8642   +22.00    8610    8678  257748
  CBOT SOY OIL     MAR3   50.98    +0.11   50.68   51.15    6648
  NYMEX CRUDE      FEB3   93.34    +0.06   93.10   93.62   14834

  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=3.02 ringgit)