VEGOILS-Palm extends gains to near 5-month high on lower production outlook

* Palm hits 2,294 ringgit/tonne, highest since Sept 5

* Short-covering, overnight gains in CBOT soyoil help -

trader

* Palm oil may rise more into 2,304-2,322 ringgit range -

techs

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures

extended gains on Thursday to hit their highest in nearly five

months on expectations of declining production.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.2 percent at

2,287 ringgit ($552.95) a tonne at the midday break, heading for

a fifth straight session of gains.

The contract earlier rose to its highest since Sept. 5, 2018

at 2,294 ringgit.

Trading volumes stood at 6,419 lots of 25 tonnes each at

noon. (1FCPO-TOT)

"Palm is up on lower production (expectations) and

short-covering, and tracking overnight soyoil (on the Chicago

Board of Trade)," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader. "The

technical outlook is positive for palm."

Palm oil production in January is expected to decline from

the previous month, in line with seasonal trend. Production fell

2 percent to 1.81 million tonnes in December. (MYPOMP-CPOTT)

Meanwhile, the Chicago March soybean oil contract

rose 1.1 percent on Wednesday, in line with gains in U.S.

soybean futures and on worries of poor crop weather reducing

yield potential in South America.

Soybean oil prices were last up 0.2 percent on Thursday.

In other related oils, the May soybean oil contract on the

Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.4 percent, and the

Dalian January palm oil contract gained 0.6 percent.

Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in soyoil rates,

as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.

Palm oil may rise more into a range of 2,304-2,322 ringgit,

as it has cleared a resistance at 2,274 ringgit per tonne, said

Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy

technicals.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0444 GMT:

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL FEB9 2199 +8.00 2190 2199 167

MY PALM OIL MAR9 2256 +5.00 2247 2260 480

MY PALM OIL APR9 2287 +4.00 2278 2294 3556

CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY9 4780 +26.00 4752 4788 326374

CHINA SOYOIL MAY9 5700 +24.00 5660 5714 286894

CBOT SOY OIL MAR9 29.43 +0.05 29.34 29.47 3842

INDIA PALM OIL JAN9 554.40 -0.10 553.30 554.8 26

INDIA SOYOIL FEB9 763 +2.10 761 763.7 2230

NYMEX CRUDE MAR9 52.43 -0.19 52.17 52.72 34950

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 = 4.1360 ringgit)

($1 = 71.2750 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.7851 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)