VEGOILS-Palm ends off 5-week high on US dry weather

* Futures touch 3,130 ringgit, highest since May 30
* Malaysia's June palm oil exports rise from a month ago
* Palm oil's target at 3,155 ringgit intact -technicals

(Updates prices)
By Chew Yee Kiat
SINGAPORE, July 3 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil
futures touched the highest in five weeks on Tuesday, as a U.S.
crop report cutting soybean crop condition ratings cemented
market views of a tighter global oilseed supply.
Extreme hot and dry weather has taken a toll on the U.S.
soybean crops with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on
Monday slashing its condition rating at 45 percent
good-to-excellent, compared with 53 percent a week ago.

"The weather issue is still in play and we have a positive
sentiment on demand as Ramadan is coming closer," said Ker Chung
Yang, commodities analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore,
referring to the Muslim fasting month that begins in end-July.
"Traders are also positioning ahead of the MPOB (Malaysian
Palm Oil Board) data next week on stocks and output."
Benchmark September palm oil futures on the Bursa
Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 1.2 percent to close at
3,124 ringgit ($992) per tonne. Prices earlier went as high as
3,130 ringgit, a level not seen since May 30.
Traded volumes stood at 34,976 lots of 25 tonnes each, much
higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
On the technicals front, a bullish target at 3,155 ringgit
remaisns intact, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao, based on
a wave analysis.
The USDA said in a report on Friday that U.S. farmers
planted far more soybeans than they originally planned but it
failed to ease concerns over a Midwest drought that has damaged
soybean crop.
A lower soybean crop for crushing into soybean oil could
mean more demand shifting to competing palm oil, which is
already trading at a discount.
Malaysia's palm oil demand climbed in June compared to a
month ago according to cargo surveyor data, as festival demand
ahead of Ramadan spurred last-minute buying.

Higher exports could pile further pressure on Malaysia's
stocks level, which is already at a 13-month low in May.
Oil rose to $99 a barrel on Tuesday as investors bet on
further policy action to support global economic growth and
tension over Iran and a strike in Norway kept oil supply
concerns in focus.
Dry weather concerns that squeezed global oilseed supply
also lifted other vegetable oil markets. U.S. soyoil for July
delivery edged up 0.7 percent.
The most active January 2013 soyoil contract on
Dalian commodity exchange also closed 0.6 percent higher.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1004 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUL2 0 +0.00 0 0 0
MY PALM OIL AUG2 3114 +44.00 3075 3117 1323
MY PALM OIL SEP2 3124 +36.00 3084 3130 20967
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3 8176 +48.00 8102 8182 219858
CHINA SOYOIL JAN3 9710 +56.00 9634 9712 525070
CBOT SOY OIL DEC2 53.52 +0.48 53.11 53.56 5572
NYMEX CRUDE AUG2 85.14 +1.39 83.33 85.46 35034

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=3.15 Malaysian ringgit)

(Editing by Niluksi Koswanage)