* Soy supports in thin trade; economic woes cap gains
* USDA report expected from 1230 GMT, seen positive for palm
(Updates throughout, adds comment/detail)
By Michael Taylor
JAKARTA, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures
traded near one-month highs on Monday, in line with other
vegetable oil markets, as investors positioned themselves ahead
of key industry data from the United States.
Benchmark November palm oil FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives Exchange ended up 0.7 percent at 3,071 Malaysian
ringgit ($1,023) per tonne. Prices earlier hit a peak at 3,076.
Exchange volumes for the November contract were thin at
5,862 lots of 25 tonnes each versus 7,895 lots on Friday.
"The market today is pretty firm," said a Kula Lumpur-based
trader. "Everyone expected the market to be down."
"There is a huge premium on soyoil over Malaysian palm oil,"
he added. "Even today, crude oil drops and soybean oil doesn't
drop -- palm is more or less tracking soybeans."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's supply-demand report,
due on Monday at 1230 GMT, will update the agency's crop
forecasts in the light of hot and dry weather hurting U.S. soy
yields that could lift soyoil's premium to palm oil.
Soybeans rose for a second straight session ahead of the
report, while the most active May 2012 soy oil on
China's Dalian Commodity Exchange also climbed.
"It should be positive for palm oil because everyone knows
the yield for soybean is coming down -- it should be friendly,"
said the trader.
Capping gains however, oil fell on Monday on deepening
concerns over Europe's sovereign debt crisis and slowing global
growth.
Also hitting sentiment, the Nikkei average skidded more than
2 percent to a fresh 2-1/2 year closing low on concerns that
Europe's sovereign debt woes and falls in U.S. share prices will
deepen.
Soybean futures have been largely insulated from the
economic crisis as hot weather in the United States, the world's
top exporter of grains and oilseeds, is expected to further
tighten world supplies.
Malaysia's August palm oil stocks fell 5.6 percent to
1,884,560 tonnes from a revised 1,996,396 tonnes in July,
industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board said.
"MPOB came out on the friendly side," said a Singapore-based
trader. "Everybody is taking some protection against the (USDA)
report.
"After the USDA report, I expect down downward pressure,
what with the weaker macro economic side," he added.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Sept. 1-10 fell
36 percent to 389,069 tonnes from 608,236 tonnes shipped during
Aug. 1-10, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said.
"Good for the market -- especially the stock levels," said a
Jakarta-based trader.
In other news, capitalising on an export tax cut by
Indonesia, India is likely to have bought more palm oil in
August at the cost of soyoil imports which may have halved
compared to the previous month, a Reuters survey showed.
Indonesia reduced the export tax cap on palmolein products
(downstream) to 13 percent from 25 percent in August, making
imports of refined products cheaper and crude products costlier
for countries like India.
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
