10/02/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil slipped on Thursday after rallying the previous day as traders booked profits ahead of the release of  two key reports, while uncertainty over the euro zone debt crisis also dampened investors' risk appetite. 

The market is keeping a close watch on the February crop production as well as the supply and demand reports set to be issued by the U.S Department of Agriculture on Thursday.

Traders are also eyeing the Malaysia's January palm oil data, which will be released by the Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) on Friday.

"Since last Thursday, prices have soared about 123 ringgit and open interest surged almost 6,553 lots. However futures rallied ahead of cash and refiners were buying at a steep discount to futures," said a trader with a local commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

"With current anaemic demand and negative margins, players will book profits before the USDA and MPOB numbers," added the trader. 

Benchmark April palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 0.2 percent to close at 3,148 ringgit ($1,047) per tonne, adding to the 0.9 percent loss that the futures market has suffered this year.

Traded volumes were thin at 22,666 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 25,000 lots as most market players were waiting for further cues.

Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said palm oil futures will retrace to 3,115 ringgit as it faces a strong resistance at 3,165 ringgit.

Ahead of the MPOB report on Friday, a Reuters survey of six plantation houses showed Malaysia's palm oil stocks in January  probably fell to a five-month low to nearly 2 million tonnes as a drop in exports outran a fall in production.

The survey also pointed to a steeper 15.1 percent decline in Malaysian palm oil exports for January, compared to the 11.9 and 13 percent according to cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance.

The cargo surveyors will issue export data for the first 10 days of February on Friday, which will indicate how much the world's No.2 edible oil buyer, China, is restocking after the Lunar New Year festival in January. 

Following reports of Malaysian exporters cutting palm oil supply to Iran, trading sources in Singapore said on Thursday that Singaporean firms have also stopped supplying the Middle Eastern country with Indonesian palm oil on concerns over its ability to make payments.

Brent crude held near six-month highs above $117 on Thursday on hopes that demand would pick up as Greece inched closer to getting its debt crisis under control, while concerns over supply disruption from the Middle East provided support.

The U.S. soyoil contract for March delivery edged up 0.1 percent in Asian trade ahead of the USDA report while the most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange inched up 0.5 percent.     
     
  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1002 GMT
                                                                       
  Contract                    Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL            FEB2    2999  -111.00    2999    3110      52
  MY PALM OIL           MAR2    3145   -13.00    3135    3160    2069
  MY PALM OIL            APR2    3148    -7.00    3135    3162   12983
  CHINA PALM OLEIN  SEP2    8246   +70.00    8200    8268  150364
  CHINA SOYOIL          SEP2    9286   +46.00    9252    9314  351008
  CBOT SOY OIL          MAR2   52.61    +0.03   52.44   52.74    5478
  NYMEX CRUDE         MAR2   99.31    +0.60   98.66   99.42   15869
                                                                       
  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=3.005 Malaysian ringgit)