13/02/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell to a two-week low on Wednesday in light trade after a long holiday weekend, with traders staying cautious as industry data showed stocks remained high despite coming off record levels.

Data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, released during the afternoon break, showed that end-stocks in Malaysia, the world's No. 2 producer, had inched down 1.9 percent to 2.58 million tonnes in January, missing expectations of a deeper fall.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysia's shipments had surged 18 percent to 440,830 tonnes in the first 10 days of February from a month ago, but traders said export volumes still needed to rise to "decent" levels.

"Exports in the last five days of January showed an average of 50,000 tonnes shipped per day, which is good. We were expecting that to carry on in February, but obviously that is not the case," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

"It will need to pick up in the coming days of February. We are at very high stocks here, so if that picks up then things will look a bit more rosy."

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a steeper 25.1 percent increase to 429,070 tonnes for the same period.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 2.2 percent to close at 2,504 ringgit ($810) per tonne, also its intraday low - a level unseen since Jan. 30.

Total traded volumes were thin at 18,873 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared with the average 25,000 tonnes, with many investors still on holiday.

Financial markets in Malaysia were closed on Monday and Tuesday for the Lunar New Year holidays while markets in China, the world's No. 2 edible oil importer, remain closed for the rest of the week.

Technical analysis showed palm oil may drop to 2,510 ringgit per tonne as a correction from the Jan. 31 high of 2,593 ringgit has not finished, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Brent crude steadied on Wednesday, holding just below a nine-month high near $119 per barrel on forecasts for faster-than-expected growth in global oil demand this year, although easing tensions in Iran kept a lid on prices.

In competing vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for March delivery fell 0.5 percent in late Asian trade. The Dalian Commodity Exchange will resume trading on Monday.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1010 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2470   -10.00    2470    2470     147
  MY PALM OIL      MAR3    2488   -46.00    2483    2529    1287
  MY PALM OIL      APR3    2504   -56.00    2504    2558   10163
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP3    7088   -24.00    7082    7156  307504
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP3    8714   -42.00    8712    8788  218624
  CBOT SOY OIL     MAR3   50.84    -0.26   50.82   51.27    3874
  NYMEX CRUDE      MAR3   97.62    +0.11   97.50   97.69    7797

  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=3.09 ringgit)