VEGOILS-Palm rises on weaker ringgit, expectations of slower output

* Palm set to snap second day of losses

* Market down 2.1 pct on-week so far

* Industry regulator data scheduled for release on March 11

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures

edged higher on Friday, in line to snap two sessions of

declines, on the back of a weaker ringgit and on

expectations of slowing production.

A weaker ringgit, palm's traded currency, is usually

supportive of the edible oil as it becomes cheaper for holders

of foreign currencies.

The ringgit weakened 0.1 percent against the dollar at

4.0900 around noon on Friday.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.4 percent at

2,143 ringgit ($523.96) a tonne at midday break.

Palm, however, was down 2.1 percent on-week so far, poised

for a second weekly decline.

"The market is up on production figures and also the weaker

ringgit," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, citing Malaysian

February palm oil output data from the Malaysian Palm Oil

Association, which shows a 7.8 percent monthly decline.

Palm oil production seasonally declines on a monthly basis

in the first quarter of the year.

A Reuters poll forecasts Malaysian February end-stocks to

slide 1.7 percent to 2.95 million tonnes from the previous

month, while production is expected to drop 8 percent to 1.6

million tonnes.

Exports are expected to drop 14 percent from January to 1.44

million ringgit.

Official data from industry regulator - Malaysian Palm Oil

Board - is scheduled for release on Monday after 0430 GMT.

In other related oils, the Chicago March soybean oil

contract was trading flat around 0600 GMT.

The May soyoil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange

declined 0.6 percent and the Dalian May palm oil

contract dipped 0.1 percent.

Palm oil prices are affected by movements in soyoil, as they

compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0602 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL MAR9 0 +0.00 0 0 0

MY PALM OIL APR9 2109 +2.00 2103 2130 1125

MY PALM OIL MAY9 2143 +8.00 2126 2158 11047

CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY9 4600 -6.00 4570 4610 311958

CHINA SOYOIL MAY9 5730 -36.00 5698 5748 303602

CBOT SOY OIL MAR9 29.41 +0.00 0 0 40

INDIA PALM OIL MAR9 543.10 +1.90 542.70 544.2 222

INDIA SOYOIL MAR9 761.5 +2.55 758.35 762.9 1970

NYMEX CRUDE APR9 56.30 -0.36 56.24 56.51 24716

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 = 4.0900 ringgit)

($1 = 6.7197 Chinese yuan)

($1 = 70.0850 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Emily Chow, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)