29.03.2018 (Reuters) - KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell in early trade on Thursday and were headed for a third straight session of declines, tracking weakness in related oils on the U.S. Chicago Board of Trade and China's Dalian Commodity Exchange.

    The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.5 percent at 2,407 ringgit ($622.45) a tonne at the midday break. Earlier in the session, it fell to its lowest since March 13 at 2,402 ringgit.

    Palm prices have declined 5.9 percent so far for this month and 3.8 percent so far in the first quarter of the year.  

     Prices could decline further this year as production is expected to rise after a dry weather El Nino phenomenon and as young trees come to maturity and increase harvested areas.

    Trading volumes stood at 10,354 lots of 25 tonnes each at the midday break. 

    "External markets are weak today, led by the Dalian, but an easing ringgit capped some of palm's losses," said a futures trader based in Kuala Lumpur.

    The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, was down 0.1 percent at 3.8670 per dollar around Thursday noon, after rising to its highest in nearly two years in the previous session.

    Weakness in the ringgit usually supports palm oil prices by making it more affordable for holders of foreign currencies.

       In related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May soybean oil contract fell 0.3 percent, while the May soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange declined 0.9 percent. The Dalian May palm oil contract was down 0.9 percent.

    Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in rival edible oils as they compete in the global vegetable oils market.

    Palm oil may drop to 2,150 ringgit per tonne in three months, said Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao.

    Palm, soy and crude oil prices as of 0450 GMT

 Contract                        Month        Last      Change      Low       High      Volume

 MY PALM OIL               APR8       2385        -12.00      2330      2396          20

 MY PALM OIL               MAY8       2411        -12.00      2407      2413        646

 MY PALM OIL               JUN8       2407        -11.00       2402      2411       5336

 CHINA PALM OLEIN    SEP8       5022       -56.00        5004     5068    284980

 CHINA SOYOIL            SEP8       5742       -54.00        5730     5788    310344

 CBOT SOY OIL            MAY8      31.53         -0.09       31.46    31.68        2265

 INDIA PALM OIL           APR8       0.00         +0.00        0.00          0             0

 INDIA SOYOIL             APR8      779.2         +3.10      773.6    781.85    14050

 NYMEX CRUDE           MAY8     64.67         +0.29       64.51     64.76    21381

  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

  India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg

  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

($1 = 3.8670 ringgit)

($1 = 65.1500 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.2915 Chinese yuan)