* Palm oil to fall to 2,137 ringgit -technicals

* Malaysian ringgit rises to 3.6200 per U.S. dollar

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 - Malaysian palm oil

futures rose in tight trade on Monday, lifted by robust overseas

sales of the tropical oil, although a firm ringgit and bearish

outlook on technicals put a lid on gains.

Exports of Malaysian palm products for April 1-20 rose 9.6

percent from a month earlier, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing

Services reported, with buyers cutting back purchases of the

crude grade to opt for more cargoes of processed palm olein

instead.

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance

showed exports for the same period rose 8.3 percent.

Malaysia will offer duty-free exports of crude palm oil in

May.

"Although the ringgit was strong, exports in the last five

days were up, that's why the market is a plus," said a trader

with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian ringgit rose to 3.6200 per U.S.

dollar by 1006 GMT. Last week the currency, in which palm is

priced in, rose 1.1 percent.

But ITS data showed shipments during April 1-20 jumped to

701,560 tonnes from 477,295 tonnes shipped between April 1 and

April 15, defying the stronger ringgit, with exports of refined,

bleached and deodorized palm olein rising 48 percent in the last

five days.

The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia

Derivatives exchange edged up 0.3 percent to 2,154 ringgit

($595) a tonne, with prices stuck between 2,147 ringgit and

2,174 ringgit.

Total traded volume stood at 39,756 lots of 25 tonnes, above

the usual 35,000 lots.

Palm may continue to trade rangebound this week, traders

said, with the market lacking a real driver to boost prices.

"Edible oil prices from China and the United States are up,

but not on a strong scale. Our market will trade in a range of

2,100-2,200 ringgit over the next two-three days," the Kuala

Lumpur-trader added.

Technicals looked weak. Palm oil may fall to 2,137 ringgit

per tonne, as it failed to break a resistance at 2,165 ringgit,

Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.

Elsewhere, Indonesia's chief economic minister, Sofyan

Djalil, told reporters on Monday that the country's planned $50

biodiesel levy may be signed into law by the president this

week, but additional approvals were needed from the finance

ministry. Djalil has given numerous timelines previously that

have passed without results.

In other markets, oil prices eased from early highs to under

$64 a barrel on Monday after Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali

al-Naimi said production in the world's biggest crude exporter

would stay near record peaks around 10 million barrels per day

(bpd) in April.

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

rose 0.5 percent in late Asian trade, while the most

active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian

Commodity Exchange gained 1.1 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1007 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL MAY5 2191 +7.00 2185 2205 398

MY PALM OIL JUN5 2171 +8.00 2163 2188 7947

MY PALM OIL JUL5 2154 +6.00 2147 2174 20595

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 4846 +96.00 4748 4848 897266

CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5638 +60.00 5554 5652 1041920

CBOT SOY OIL MAY5 31.69 +1.50 31.49 31.80 5243

INDIA PALM OIL APR5 439.00 +1.50 437.00 441.00 422

INDIA SOYOIL APR5 602.80 -1.90 602.80 605.40 4655

NYMEX CRUDE MAY5 56.07 +0.33 55.98 56.65 4833

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 = 3.6200 Malaysian ringgit)

($1 = 6.2015 Chinese yuan)

($1 = 62.82 Indian rupees)