27/06/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended higher on Tuesday, supported by rising exports and concerns that drought in the United States could damage the soybean crop and limit global supplies of edible oils.

But gains were limited in a choppy trading session as investors turned sceptical ahead of a summit of European leaders later this week that looks unlikely to take concrete measures to solve the region's debt crisis.

"The market is trading in a tight range today, indicating traders were cautious and chose to stay on the sidelines ahead of the EU summit," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

Benchmark September palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 0.2 percent to close at 3,035 ringgit ($951) per tonne. Prices traded in a narrow range between 3,010 and 3,036 ringgit.

Traded volumes were thin at 16,908 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 25,000 lots.

Malaysian palm oil exports grew 4.4 percent to 1.2 million tonnes in the first 25 days of the month from a month ago, said cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, backed by higher shipments to China, India and Pakistan.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said late on Monday that exports rose 8.8 percent, supporting views that demand is being helped by last-minute buying ahead of the Muslim fasting month starting in July.

Hot and dry weather in the United States continued to threaten to damage soybean crops and could possibly lead to a smaller supply of soybean oil, raising appeal of palm oil that is already trading at a steep discount.

Traders are also eyeing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's June acreage report for soybeans on Friday. The average soy estimate in a Reuters survey was 2.2 percent higher than USDA's March forecast.

Oil climbed towards $92 per barrel on Tuesday as the prospect of a decline in U.S. crude stockpiles offset concern that a meeting of European leaders would fail to resolve the region's debt crisis.   

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July  delivery lost 0.5 percent.

The most active January 2013 soyoil contract on Dalian commodity exchange also lost 0.8 percent, after touching a more than one-month high the previous day.   

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1012 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3015   +12.00    2985    3016     263
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    3023    +5.00    3003    3025     873
  MY PALM OIL      SEP2    3035    +5.00    3010    3036   11904
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3    7998   -70.00    7974    8066  343516
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN3    9500   -74.00    9462    9588  617158
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   51.04    -0.23   50.73   51.53    6997
  NYMEX CRUDE      AUG2   79.35    +0.14   78.71   79.62   25675

  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=3.195 Malaysian ringgit)