* Focus shits to May 1-15 export data to gauge demand - traders

* Palm oil may fall to 2,148 ringgit -technicals

over strong export data in the first half of May underpinned the contract.

Palm had climbed to its strongest since April 6 on Wednesday on worries an El Nino weather pattern would curb yields, but expectations of weaker

demand in the second half of the month curbed gains and prompted investors to take profits.

However, market talk emerged late Thursday that exports between May 1-15 were above 30 percent, turning prices around. Cargo surveyors reported an

up to 45 percent surge in shipments from Malaysia in the first ten days of the month from April.

"The market is expecting a strong export number tomorrow," said a Singapore-based commodity trader. Data for exports between May 1 and May 15 will

be released on Friday.

The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended up 0.3 percent at 2,205 ringgit ($615.92) a tonne, with

prices trading between 2,171-2,208 ringgit.

"If export figures tomorrow are bullish, prices may rally slightly. If not, the market will come down to test the 2,080 ringgit level," a palm

trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur told Reuters.

Total traded volume stood at 45,163 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the average 35,000 lots.

A stronger ringgit meanwhile crimped gains, as it makes the ringgit-priced feedstock more expensive for overseas customers. The Southeast

Asian currency was up 0.5 percent at 3.5800 against the greenback by 1018 GMT.

Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm grower after Indonesia, will keep its June crude palm oil export tax at zero percent, continuing

duty-free exports from this month, a government circular showed on Thursday.

In other markets, oil prices eased slightly on Thursday as weak data from the world's top economies raised concern about the outlook for global

fuel demand.

The U.S. July soyoil contract rose 0.3 percent in late Asian trade, while the most active September soybean oil contract on the

Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 0.5 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1019 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL MAY5 0 +0.00 0 0 10

MY PALM OIL JUN5 2211 +10.00 2174 2211 2020

MY PALM OIL JUL5 2205 +7.00 2171 2208 21273

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 5112 -26.00 5056 5124 729058

CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5884 -32.00 5836 5898 818794

CBOT SOY OIL JUL5 33.35 +2.50 33.05 33.37 6363

INDIA PALM OIL MAY5 454.00 +2.50 448.50 454.40 1313

INDIA SOYOIL JUN5 607.00 +4.20 601.20 607.60 32835

NYMEX CRUDE JUN5 60.67 +0.17 59.82 60.73 22600

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 = 3.5800 Malaysian ringgit)

($1 = 6.2012 Chinese yuan)

($1 = 63.83 Indian rupees)