23/01/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose to their highest in more than two weeks on Tuesday, tracking gains in competing soyoil as dry weather in key South American soy-producing regions sparked concerns about edible oil supply as global demand recovers.

Dryness in parts of Argentina and Brazil could hurt South America's soybean yields and turn buyers towards palm oil, which is currently trading at a discount of more than $300 a tonne.

Malaysian palm oil exports fell 19 percent in the first twenty days of January, improving fractionally from a steeper drop earlier in the month and raising hopes that demand would pick up and cut record high stockpiles in the world's No.2 producer. 

"Exports are improving slightly -- it's still not so good, but it should be improving," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

"The market has broken the resistance level of 2,445-2,450 ringgit of the third month benchmark. Technically the market looks more supportive," he added.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose to 2,474 ringgit ($812) per tonne, the highest level since Jan. 7, before closing at 2,466 ringgit, a gain of almost 2 percent from the previous session.

Total traded volume stood at 35,955 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Technical analysis shows palm oil is expected to rise towards 2,486 ringgit per tonne, as it has cleared resistance at 2,449 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Brent crude rose above $112 a barrel on Tuesday, after Japan pledged to pump in more money to boost its economy, adding to positive growth signals from the United States and China in the past few weeks.

In competing vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for March delivery rose 1.5 percent to a near 3-month high on late Tuesday, underpinned by dry weather that sparked concerns about South America's soybean crop, which is forecast to hit to record highs this year.

The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange had gained 0.2 percent in late Asian trade, the highest level seen since Nov. 2.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1014 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2414   +44.00    2390    2415     238
  MY PALM OIL      MAR3    2441   +40.00    2412    2451    4815
  MY PALM OIL      APR3    2466   +46.00    2430    2474   16312
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6818   +70.00    6746    6820  293718
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP3    8848   +20.00    8820    8886  410644
  CBOT SOY OIL     MAR3   52.46    +0.78   51.94   52.55    9495
  NYMEX CRUDE      FEB3   95.41    -0.15   94.98   95.72    8494

  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=3.044 ringgit)