29/01/2016 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures dropped on Friday to the lowest level in a week on slowing exports and as the Malaysian ringgit gained strength.

The palm oil contract for April on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 1.45 percent to 2,445 Malaysian ringgit per tonne at the midday break, after dropping to 2,433 ringgit earlier in the day, the lowest level since Jan. 21.

The contract hit a high of 2,512 ringgit on Thursday, the highest since May 28, 2014.

Traded volume stood at 17,619 lots of 25 tonnes each.

"Slowing exports are putting pressure on palm oil," said Alfred Mah, director of brokerage Matthes & Porton.

"We could see another 100-ringgit downside before a recovery."

In last few weeks palm oil rallied on a likely drop in production in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia due to the El Nino's dry weather effects.

The El Nino weather phenomenon brings heavy rains across South America but scorching heat in Southeast Asia, impacting palm's fresh fruit yields and lowering output.

Malaysia's palm output is only expected to rise 0.7 percent this year, while Indonesian production is seen at 35 million tonnes from 32.5 million tonnes in 2015.

"Strengthening ringgit could hit exports and nullify the impact of lower production," said a dealer based in Kuala Lumpur.

The ringgit jumped nearly 2 percent against the dollar on Friday.

Stockpiles in Malaysia as of end-December were at 2.6 million tonnes, down from an all-time high of 2.9 million tonnes a month ago. (MYPOMS-TPO).

In related markets, crude oil prices rose on Friday, moving nearly 8 percent higher so far this week and set for a second weekly gain, spurred by hopes of a deal among oil-producing countries to tackle a growing supply glut.

The U.S. March soyoil contract was unchanged, while the May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 1 percent.