06/03/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures slipped on Monday as traders await a key price outlook meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week at which analysts are expected to paint a bullish picture for the sector.

Prices rose more than six percent in February alone, setting the stage for upbeat price outlooks at the Bursa Malaysia conference, given strong demand from India and China and prospects of lower soyoil supply from drought hit South America.

For a factbox on the analysts issuing price forecasts, see

"Trading interest is dull as market players are waiting for cues from the Bursa Malaysia palm oil conference," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage. "Also, most external markets are quiet after huge moves last week."

Benchmark May palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange dropped 0.4 percent to close at 3,246 ringgit ($1,075) per tonne.

Traded volumes were thin at 12,155 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 25,000 lots, as most dealers were attending the palm oil conference.

Technicals appeared to be negative as Reuters analyst Wang Tao said a bullish target at 3,342 ringgit per tonne has been aborted for palm oil as it will continue a correction that started at the Feb. 28 high of 3,321 ringgit.

Demand from India, the world's largest palm oil buyer, is rather bullish, with an industry official saying imports may hit seven million tonnes in the current crop year to October -- an increase of nearly 8 percent.

Brent crude slipped below $124 on Monday due to demand growth concerns, but the slide was stemmed by fears of a supply crunch as Iran exports less crude on tighter Western sanctions.

In other vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for March delivery was mostly unmoved in Asian trade as dealers settled positions and reaped profits after the grain hit a fresh 23-week high in a previous session.

The most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange rose 0.2 percent.
      
  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1005 GMT
                                                                    
  Contract                       Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL               MAR2    3220   -15.00    3215    3230      50
  MY PALM OIL               APR2    3240   -10.00    3231    3255     967
  MY PALM OIL               MAY2    3246   -13.00    3236    3271    7550
  CHINA PALM OLEIN  SEP2    8358   +14.00    8324    8390   73882
  CHINA SOYOIL           SEP2    9402   +18.00    9364    9434  267434
  CBOT SOY OIL           MAY2   54.10    +0.02   53.94   54.26    5279
  NYMEX CRUDE          APR2  105.82    -0.88  105.50  107.29   23608
                                                                    
  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=3.019 Malaysian ringgit)