* But Ramadan demand provides support -traders

* Malaysia's May 1-20 palm oil exports jump 48-53 pct -cargo surveyors

  Malaysian palm oil futures slipped to the lowest in almost three weeks on

Wednesday, stretching their losses into a fourth session as weakness in comparative markets overseas dragged,

although robust export demand put a floor under prices.

Oil prices slid over 3 percent on Tuesday amid evidence the United States and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia

were pumping more supplies. Low crude prices dent demand for palm oil by making the latter less attractive for

blending into biofuels.

Weak overnight U.S. and Dalian prices of soybeans, which are crushed to produced rival soyoil, also dragged

on palm.

"Our market is weak despite the strong exports because the global markets, grains, softs, energy, are down,"

a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur said.

"The CBOT was down yesterday night, palm olein on Dalian was also down quite sharp, so palm opened lower. But

towards the later part of the morning, palm recovered a bit on the good exports."

The benchmark August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange had edged down 0.8 percent

to 2,140 ringgit ($592.39) a tonne by Wednesday's close. Prices earlier touched 2,131 ringgit, their lowest since

April 30.

Total traded volume stood at 39,713 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the average 35,000 lots.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services (ITS) reported strong overseas sales of Malaysian palm oil, allaying

concerns that demand would fizzle out after exports surged in the first half of the month.

The ITS report showed shipments rose 52.6 percent to 1,070,282 tonnes between May 1-20 from the same period

in April, with China and Europe doubling purchases, and India nearly tripling theirs.

Another surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance showed exports for the same period rose 48.1 percent.

The start of the holy month of Ramadan next month, marked by communal fasting and feasting by Muslims,

typically drives up consumption of edible oils and may underpin demand for palm in May and June, traders say.

The market is now eyeing crude oil and rival vegetable oil markets for further trading cues.

Crude oil prices bounced back on Wednesday from steep falls in the previous session as industry data showed

that U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected last week and strong Japanese economic growth surprised markets,

stoking producer hopes of increased demand.

In vegetable oil markets, the U.S. July soyoil contract was up 0.4 percent by 1010 GMT, while the most

active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 2.3 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1011 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL JUN5 2151 -15.00 2140 2155 480

MY PALM OIL JUL5 2147 -18.00 2138 2158 6153

MY PALM OIL AUG5 2140 -18.00 2131 2152 22791

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 4908 -136.00 4860 5006 851050

CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5674 -132.00 5626 5754 883958

CBOT SOY OIL JUL5 32.31 +4.50 32.02 32.37 7850

INDIA PALM OIL MAY5 447.80 +4.50 442.40 449.40 906

INDIA SOYOIL JUN5 594.50 +1.05 591.50 595.30 22165

NYMEX CRUDE JUL5 58.61 +0.62 58.10 58.90 34212

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 = 3.6125 Malaysian ringgit)

($1 = 6.2038 Chinese yuan)

($1 = 63.83 Indian rupees)