VEGOILS-Palm rises for second week as buying steps up before industry meeting

* Prices up 0.22 pct this week before Kuala Lumpur palm

conference

* Palm oil faces resistance at 2,312 ringgit - technicals

* Brazil strike threatens disruptions to soybean exports

By Anuradha Raghu

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures

rose on Friday for a second straight weekly gain on anticipation

of weaker output from top grower Indonesia, and as investors

stepped up buying ahead of an industry meet in Kuala Lumpur next

week.

The Malaysian palm contract, which sets the tone for global

prices, was choppy this week, sliding to a 2-1/2-week low on

Monday and further bogged down on estimates of a

faster-than-expected recovery in Malaysian palm yields late on

Wednesday.

Expectations of weaker production in neighbouring Indonesia,

and increased buying interest before the palm oil conference,

helped prices claw back gains for a 0.22 percent weekly rise.

"The sellers in the futures market are keen to buy back with

the Palm Oil Conference next week," said a trader with a local

commodities brokerage in Malaysia, who has pencilled in a near

12 percent drop in Indonesian crude palm oil output for January

to February.

By Friday's close, the benchmark May contract on

the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had inched up 1.27

percent to 2,305 ringgit ($639) a tonne.

Traded volume stood at 46,438 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher

than the usual 35,000 lots.

A slide in the Malaysian ringgit also stoked buying

interest for the ringgit-priced palm feedstock. The Southeast

Asian currency was trading at 3.6040 per dollar by 1017 GMT,

down 0.61 percent.

Palm traders are also keeping a close watch on a truckers'

strike in Brazil that has disrupted supplies of soybeans from

the key producer and exporter. Prolonged disruptions of the

rival oilseed could prompt buyers to switch to palm oil.

The strike has stretched into its ninth day and spread from

a few roadblocks on Feb. 18 in the main soybean state of Mato

Grosso to 91 blockades across nine states.

In other markets, crude oil futures rebounded and Brent

headed for its first monthly gain since July, helped by strong

investor inflows, an improving demand outlook and supply

outages.

In competing vegetable oil markets, the U.S. soyoil contract

for May rose 1.31 percent, while the most-active May

soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange

gained 2.13 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1028 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL MAR5 2321 +29.00 2282 2330 1351

MY PALM OIL APR5 2312 +32.00 2280 2324 4318

MY PALM OIL MAY5 2309 +33.00 2277 2321 27578

CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY5 5100 +144.00 4966 5104 351048

CHINA SOYOIL MAY5 5666 +118.00 5540 5672 334744

CBOT SOY OIL MAY5 32.45 +1.30 31.96 32.60 8449

INDIA PALM OIL FEB5 454.40 +1.30 453.40 454.50 244

INDIA SOYOIL APR5 596.50 +1.25 595.30 599.00 17245

NYMEX CRUDE APR5 49.21 +1.04 48.66 49.53 35284

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 = 6.2695 Chinese yuan renminbi)

($1 = 61.8200 Indian rupees)

($1 = 3.6100 ringgit)

(Additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Jakarta;

Editing by Dale Hudson)