01/02/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended largely unchanged on Tuesday after falling near a six-week low as investors fretted about the prospects of weakening demand for the edible oil and uncertainty surrounding the euro zone debt crisis.

Benchmark April palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended 0.1 percent lower to close at 3,078 ringgit ($1,013) per tonne. Prices earlier touched 3,044 ringgit, a level last seen since Dec. 21.

Traded volumes were thin at 17,183 tonnes of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 25,000 tonnes.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos raised investors hopes on Tuesday, saying negotiators had made "significant progress" in talks to strike a debt restructuring deal, with the aim of having a definitive agreement by the end of this week.

But just as Greece's problems moved toward a resolution, concerns are growing that Portugal might need a second rescue as Lisbon's borrowing costs soar.

Cargo surveyor data also pointed to a 12 and 13 percent decline in No. 2 producer Malaysia's palm oil exports for January, weighing on sentiment and limiting trade interest in the futures market that has lost slightly more than 3 percent this month.

"The market's down quite a bit on the back of several factors. Local sentiment was not so good as shown by the export numbers," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. 

Malaysian palm oil exports for January fell close to 12 percent to 1.3 million tonnes, in line with market's expectations, according to cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a similar decline, saying exports for the period fell 13 percent to slightly below 1.3 million tonnes.

Some traders attributed the decline in Malaysian palm oil exports to the shift in orders to top producer Indonesia, which slashed export taxes for processed oils.

Exports also fell due to a delay by Malaysia in issuing tax free crude palm oil export quotas, sources said. This has made it difficult for licence holders to supply overseas refiners with cheap feedstock and meet existing export contracts.

Top importers including China, India and the European Union have also cut back orders, adding to the decline in exports.

Oil prices rose on Tuesday on concerns over supply from Iran and South Sudan and hopes that a Greek debt deal and European budget agreement would help support stronger economic growth.

In other vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for March delivery gained 1.1 percent while the most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange lost 0.8 percent.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1003 GMT
                                                                   
  Contract                 Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL           FEB2    3075   -15.00    3060    3087     531
  MY PALM OIL           MAR2    3078    -7.00    3049    3087    1938
  MY PALM OIL           APR2    3078    -4.00    3044    3085   10437
  CHINA PALM OLEIN  SEP2    7976   -72.00    7950    7990   57572
  CHINA SOYOIL          SEP2    9000   -68.00    8972    9008  174094
  CBOT SOY OIL          MAR2   50.79    +0.54   50.33   50.80    7496
  NYMEX CRUDE         MAR2   99.82    +1.04   98.86   99.99   14612
                                                                   
  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
  
 * Bursa Malaysia holds its annual Palm and Lauric Oils
Conference & Exhibition Price Outlook 2012 from March 5 to 7 in
Kuala Lumpur. For details, see www.pocmalaysia.com 
($1=3.040 Malaysian ringgit)