CHICAGO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The launch of crude palm oil futures on the Singapore-based electronic trading platform JADE has been delayed until early next year, the Chicago Board of Trade, a partner in the project, said on Thursday.

The Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange, a venture between the CBOT , the world's largest grain exchange, and the Singapore Exchange , had been scheduled to begin trading crude palm oil futures before the end of this year.

Trading in futures contracts of Indonesian palm oil will now debut in the "early first quarter of 2007," a CBOT spokeswoman told Reuters.

She gave no reason for the delayed launch.

JADE launched its first contract, rubber, in September in an attempt to capture the vast potential market among Asian hedgers seeking protection against their trades in the cash markets.

The launch of the crude palm oil futures contract was widely awaited as it will be offered on the same electronic platform as the CBOT's soybean oil futures contract and the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange canola contract, providing market participants additional spreading opportunities.

The JADE crude palm oil contract was expected to compete head-to-head with the Malaysian palm oil futures contract, the world's benchmark for pricing palm oil.

The launch of JADE's crude palm oil futures comes at a time when prices for vegetable oils have been soaring amid rising demand from the biodiesel sector.

Malaysian palm oil futures recently hit a two-year high, and, similarly, the demand from the ethanol sector has driven CBOT corn futures to their highest levels in a decade.