VEGOILS-Palm oil slips as ringgit gains further

* Palm charts second consecutive session of declines

* Ringgit surges to strongest in nearly two years

* Market seen trading in range before official data - trader

(Updates with closing prices, central bank outlook)

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil

futures edged lower on Wednesday evening as the ringgit

strengthened further and hit its highest in nearly two years.

The Malaysian currency rose as much as 0.53 percent against

the dollar to 3.8550, its highest since April 2016, bolstered by

high oil prices and portfolio inflows. It was last up 0.35

percent at 3.8620 per dollar on Wednesday evening for a third

consecutive sessions of gains.

Gains in the ringgit, palm's currency of trade, usually

weigh on the tropical oil by making it more expensive for

holders of foreign currencies.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.5 percent

at 2,418 ringgit ($626.10) a tonne at the close of trade in a

second straight session of declines.

Palm fell to a one-week low of 2,410 ringgit on Tuesday, and

has been range-trading around 2,400 ringgit in the last two

weeks. It has shed over 5 percent so far this month in what may

be its biggest monthly drop since November 2017.

Trading volumes stood at 26,955 lots of 25 tonnes each at

the end of Wednesday's trading day.

Palm oil is seen trading in a range in the medium term until

data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board is released on April 10,

said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur.

"But it's hard to say (if March stocks will rise or fall

on-month), as the surprise lies in exports ... and production,"

he said.

Malaysian palm oil production is forecast to rise in March

from a month earlier, in line with seasonal trend and on the

higher number of working days. (MYPOMP-CPOTT)

Malaysia's central bank said on Wednesday it expected crude

palm oil prices to decline this year due to elevated inventory

levels post El Nino, a dry weather event from 2015 which damaged

crops and lowered output.

Palm oil traders are also expecting exports to rise in March

on a monthly basis. Shipments from Malaysia during March 1-25

rose 9 percent to 10 percent from the corresponding period in

February, according to cargo surveyor data released earlier this

week.

Malaysian exports had declined 13.3 percent on a monthly

basis to 1.3 million tonnes in February. (MYPOME-PO)

In other related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May

soybean oil contract fell 0.5 percent, while the May

soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange

declined 0.6 percent.

The Dalian May palm oil contract was down 0.4

percent.

Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in rival edible

oils as they compete in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices as of 1044 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL APR8 2397 -3.00 2370 2403 221

MY PALM OIL MAY8 2422 -12.00 2421 2430 2453

MY PALM OIL JUN8 2417 -13.00 2417 2427 13604

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP8 5078 -12.00 5054 5094 206032

CHINA SOYOIL SEP8 5792 -48.00 5772 5816 290836

CBOT SOY OIL MAY8 31.42 -0.16 31.4 31.59 4801

INDIA PALM OIL MAR8 638.30 -0.10 637.70 638.8 1260

INDIA SOYOIL APR8 778.9 +2.80 773.6 781.85 10260

NYMEX CRUDE MAY8 64.76 -0.49 64.38 64.98 108071

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 = 3.8620 ringgit)

($1 = 65.2650 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.2900 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and David

Evans)