* Ringgit weakens, falls to new 3-month low on Monday * Prices up on weak ringgit, flood worries -trader * Workers strike at Jakarta's biggest port, but operations normal * Indonesia keeps crude palm oil export tax at 12 pct for Jan. 2014 By Anuradha Raghu KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended higher on Monday, stretching gains into a third straight day as the ringgit's poor performance stoked demand, while concerns over disruption in supply due to monsoon floods also buoyed prices. The Malaysian ringgit touched a new three-month low on Monday, falling 0.1 percent to trade at 3.2860 versus the U.S dollar. The weaker ringgit makes Malaysian palm cheaper for overseas buyers and refiners, prompting them to book shipments. Concerns that monsoon floods in key palm-growing states in Malaysia would hamper production also lifted prices of the tropical oil. Malaysia's Meteorological Department warned that thunderstorms and heavy rains are expected over the states of Johor and Sarawak until Monday afternoon, and potentially cause flash floods in low-lying areas. "We are affected by the weak ringgit, and the floods which is a prevailing worry," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. The benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had inched up 1.2 percent to 2,616 ringgit ($795) per tonne by Monday's close. Total traded volume stood at 32,019 lots of 25 tonnes, below the average 35,000 lots. More than a hundred workers at Indonesia's biggest port Tanjung Priok went on strike late Sunday, but port officials said shipping and port operations were unaffected as of Monday. "No service disruptions there," Fadhil Hasan, executive director at the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), told Reuters in a text. "So far, no report about delay or cancellation of shipments." Tanjung Priok port handles about 50 percent of oil, containers, and dry bulk goods in and out of Indonesia. Global commodity markets were not impacted by the strike for now, traders said. Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer, kept its export tax for crude palm oil unchanged at 12 percent for January, while No.2 producer Malaysia has its own tax unchanged at 5 percent. In other markets, Brent crude hit a two-week high near $112 a barrel on Monday as internal strife in South Sudan threatened the country's oil output, adding to supply woes in Africa. In other competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract for January was flat in late Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange edged up 0.1 percent. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1004 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL JAN4 2593 +47.00 2534 2595 338 MY PALM OIL FEB4 2607 +36.00 2563 2610 4457 MY PALM OIL MAR4 2616 +32.00 2573 2622 18087 CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 6056 -4.00 5974 6080 926502 CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 6982 +4.00 6926 7008 757250 CBOT SOY OIL MAR4 39.74 +0.00 39.55 39.89 3449 NYMEX CRUDE FEB4 99.01 -0.31 98.86 99.31 7531 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

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