21/09/2011 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures inched up on Tuesday as the weaker ringgit made the vegetable oil cheaper to process at time when exports could start rising again ahead of an Indian festival and a national holiday in China. 

Investors were also bargain hunting after commodity prices declined the previous day on concerns about the euro zone's debt crisis, boosting safe-havens such as the U.S. dollar. 

"The only reason the market is higher is because of the super-duper weak ringgit, making palm oil look cheap in relative value," said a trader in Kuala Lumpur. 

"But on the flip side, the higher U.S. dollar always results in pressure on U.S. based commodities and that is every single vegetable oil product out there," he said. 

A stronger dollar makes vegetable oil cargoes priced in that currency more expensive for overseas buyers although with India's Diwali festival late next month and China's Golden week holiday in early October, orders are expected to pour in. 

Benchmark December palm oil FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 0.9 percent to 3,067 ringgit($985.48) per tonne. 

Overall volumes were light, with 16,863 lots of 25 tonnes changing hands, compared to the usual 25,000 lots. 

Reuters analyst Wang Tao forecast prices to remain neutral in a range of 3,000-3,083 ringgit per tonne.  

Palm oil has lost almost 20 percent so far this year on high stocks and a slowdown in demand. 

Malaysia's Sept. 1-20 palm oil exports fell 16.4 percent to 978,087 tonnes from 1,170,226 tonnes shipped during Aug. 1-20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Tuesday. 

That represents a recovery, as exports in the first ten days of September were down 36.4 percent to 377,038 tonnes from the same period a month ago.  

Another surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a 17.4 percent fall to 967,859 tonnes in the same period. 

Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $1 to $110.14 a barrel, recouping from heavy losses as worries over the global economy were seen factored into current prices.  

U.S. soyoil for October delivery rose 0.8 percent on bargain hunting during Asian hours, while the most active May 2012 soybean oil contract on China's Dalian Exchange edged up 0.3 percent. 

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1006 GMT
                                                                                  
  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  OCT1    3084    +4.00    3059    3090    1118
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  NOV1    3073   +24.00    3030    3075    3611
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  DEC1    3067   +26.00    3023    3071    8780
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  JAN2    3068   +26.00    3025    3068    1540
  DALIAN SOY OIL   MAY2   10120   +28.00   10056   10138  373816
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC1   56.23    +0.39   55.88   56.28    4811
  NYMEX CRUDE      OCT1   86.81    +1.11   85.11   86.91    2898
                                                                                  
  Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
  CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
  Dalian soy oil in Chinese yuan per tonne
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
  ($1 = 3.112 Ringgit)