VEGOILS-Palm oil rises for 7 out of 8 sessions on supply concerns

SINGAPORE, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures gained on Thursday, supported by concerns over a shortfall in supplies early next year due to lack of rains and lower use of fertilizer. The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 7 ringgit to 2,885 ringgit ($691.85) by 0241 GMT. Palm gained for seven out of eight sessions following a two-month rally that has seen prices climbed to the highest since February 2017. FUNDAMENTALS * Poor rainfall in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia earlier this year is likely to curb yields of the tropical oil in the first half of 2020, according to traders and analysts. Planters have used less fertilizer due to lower prices which in July dropped to weakest in four years. * Malaysia's palm oil inventories fell to a three-month low in November as a seasonal decline in production curbed yields, while exports dropped on slowing purchases by top importers, industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Tuesday. * However, the decline was lower than expected. Stockpiles slid to 2.26 million tonnes, down 4.1% from the previous month. * This compared with a Reuters survey forecasting reserves to drop 5.7% to 2.22 million tonnes. * Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Dec. 1-10 fell 11.4% to 376,659 tonnes from 425,010 tonnes shipped during Nov. 1-10, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Tuesday. * Indonesia also announced on Tuesday plans to implement a biodiesel programme with 40% bio-content (B40) between 2021-2022, and it set to start with a 30% bio-content in January. * Dalian's most-active soyoil contract traded 0.2% higher, while its palm oil contract fell 0.6%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were trading 0.2% higher. * Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market. * Palm oil FCPOc3 may test a support at 2,857 ringgit per tonne, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling toward a range of 2,760-2,818 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. MARKET NEWS * Asian stocks edged higher on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signalled rate settings were likely to remain accommodative but the imminent UK election and a deadline for Sino-U.S. trade talks kept investors cautious. DATA/EVENTS AHEAD (GMT) 0700 Germany HICP Final YY Nov 0745 France CPI (EU Norm) Final MM, YY Nov 1200 India Industrial Output YY Oct 1245 EU ECB Refinancing & Deposit Rates Dec 1300 Russia GDP YY Quarterly Revised Q3 1330 US Initial Jobless Claims weekly 1330 Germany Press conference following the governing council meeting of the ECB in Frankfurt 1700 US The Federal Reserve releases quarterly financial accounts of the United States Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0241 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL FEB0 2885 +7.00 2875 2886 1432 MY PALM OIL JAN0 2851 +0.00 2849 2857 125 MY PALM OIL DEC9 0 +0.00 0 0 0 CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN0 5884 -10.00 5844 5896 204430 CHINA SOYOIL JAN0 6374 -2.00 6344 6390 57888 CBOT SOY OIL JAN0 31.51 +0.07 31.42 31.54 1402 INDIA PALM OIL DEC9 0.00 +0.00 0.00 0 0 INDIA SOYOIL DEC9 853 -3.80 850.4 858.8 7680 NYMEX CRUDE JAN0 58.88 +0.12 58.83 58.96 7476 ($1 = 4.1700 ringgit) (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Arun Koyyur)