21/06/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures hit their highest in almost three weeks on Wednesday, as investors bet on higher demand for palm oil after hot and dry U.S. weather threatened to curb the soy crop available for crushing into edible oil.

Market players were also optimistic ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the day, hoping for a new round of monetary stimulus that could boost global growth and commodity demand.

A 15-percent jump in Malaysian palm oil exports for the June 1-20 period from a month ago confirmed a shift of orders to the tropical oil and last-minute buying ahead of the Muslim month of fasting called Ramadan that starts in late July.

Palm oil prices crossed above the 3,000-ringgit mark for the first time since June 11, signalling traders were less cautious after the Greece elections helped ease concerns over the euro zone debt crisis. 

"Demand is expected to grow as we are moving into the Ramadan month," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

"There's an understanding that the earlier selldown was due to the uncertainty in Europe. The crisis is still there but it's not as bad compared to before the Greece elections."

Benchmark September palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange jumped 3.2 percent to close at  3,041 ringgit ($964) per tonne, after going as high as 3,058 ringgit, a level unseen since June 1.

Traded volumes stood at 52,086 lots of 25 tonnes each, more than double the usual 25,000 lots.

On the technicals front, palm oil will test resistance at 3,024 ringgit, a break above which will open the way towards3,140 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Malaysian palm oil exports grew to 991,917 tonnes in the first 20 days of the month, said cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services.

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance also reported a 15 percent increase in exports to 996,662 tonnes for the same period.   

Dry weather in the United States is in focus as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said unfavourable weather had damaged soybean crop quality.

A lower soybean crop could lead to a smaller supply of soybean oil, shifting demand to the cheaper refined palm oil. 

Brent crude oil fell on Wednesday, pinned near 17-month lows, hit by worries over Spain's high borrowing costs and prospects for global demand growth.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July  delivery gained more than 1 percent.

The most active January 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian commodity exchange inched up 2 percent, touching a one-month high on tighter U.S. soybean supply. 

 Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1007 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3035  +105.00    2980    3036    2330
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    3045  +103.00    2982    3052    9138
  MY PALM OIL      SEP2    3041   +93.00    2992    3058   30644
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3    8016  +204.00    7874    8022  373030
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN3    9506  +190.00    9388    9514  566414
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   51.03    +0.59   50.10   51.08   13091
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUL2   83.96    -0.07   83.48   84.16    2600

  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
  ($1=3.154 Malaysian ringgit)