* Palm weighed by overnight weakness in oil and soy markets
* But Ramadan demand provides support -traders
* Malaysia's May 1-20 palm oil exports jump 52.6 pct -ITS

21/05/2015 (Reuters) -  Malaysian palm oil futures slipped to the lowest in almost three weeks on Wednesday, stretching their losses into a fourth session as weakness in comparative markets overseas dragged, although robust export demand put a floor under prices.

Oil prices slid over 3 percent on Tuesday amid evidence the United States and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia were pumping more supplies. Low crude prices dent demand for palm oil by making the latter less attractive for blending into biofuels.

Weak overnight U.S. and Dalian prices of soybeans, which are crushed to produced rival soyoil, also dragged on palm.

"Our market is weak despite the strong exports because the global markets, grains, softs, energy, are down," a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur said.

"The CBOT was down yesterday night, palm olein on Dalian was also down quite sharp, so palm opened lower. But towards the later part of the morning, palm recovered a bit on the good exports."

By the midday break, the benchmark August contract  on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange had edged down 0.4 percent to 2,150 ringgit ($595.73) a tonne. Prices earlier touched 2,131 ringgit, their lowest since April 30.

Total traded volume stood at 14,699 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the average 12,500 lots.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services (ITS) reported strong overseas sales of Malaysian palm oil, allaying concerns that demand would fizzle out after exports surged in the first half of the month.

The ITS report showed shipments rose 52.6 percent to 1,070,282 tonnes between May 1-20 from the same period in April, with India, China and Europe doubling purchases.

The start of the holy month of Ramadan next month, marked by communal fasting and feasting by Muslims, typically drives up consumption of edible oils and may underpin demand for palm in May and June, traders say.

 Another surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance will release data later on Wednesday.
 
The market is now eyeing crude oil and rival vegetable oil markets for further trading cues.

Crude oil bounced back in early Asian trade on Wednesday as strong Japanese economic growth surprised markets and the consumer outlook in Australia seemed to brighten, stoking hopes of increased demand.

In vegetable oil markets, the U.S. July soyoil contract was up 0.2 percent by 0527 GMT, while the most active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 2.1 percent.
       
  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0534 GMT
                                                                                                                                                                  
  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUN5    2155   -11.00    2140    2155     189
  MY PALM OIL      JUL5    2156    -9.00    2138    2157    2296
  MY PALM OIL      AUG5    2150    -8.00    2131    2150    9071
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5    4916  -128.00    4860    5006  719596
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP5    5678  -128.00    5626    5754  730002
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL5   32.23    +3.40   32.13   32.27    2358
  INDIA PALM OIL   MAY5  446.70    +3.40  442.40  446.70     175
  INDIA SOYOIL     JUN5  594.00    +0.55  592.50  594.80    5980
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUL5   58.47    +0.48   58.27   58.68   10203
                                                                                                                                                                  
  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
  India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
 
($1 = 3.6090 Malaysian ringgit)
($1 = 6.2044 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 63.75 Indian rupees)