* Palm oil drops to lowest since April 30

* Ringgit holding below 1998 levels

* Indonesia expects moderate El Nino from July-November

(Recasts, updates throughout)

on Tuesday for a fifth straight session to their lowest in three

months, reflecting weakness in competing markets and declines in

commodities globally, although a weak ringgit provided some

support.

By the close, benchmark palm oil for October on

the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had slipped 0.47 percent

to 2,130 ringgit ($558.62) a tonne. Earlier in the session the

contract hit 2,115 ringgit, its lowest since April 30.

Total traded volume stood at 37,341 lots of 25 tonnes each,

above the roughly 35,000 lots usually traded daily.

"We're taking the lead from the Dalian market," said a

trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur,

referring to recent declines in soybean oil futures in China's

Dalian Commodities Exchange.

Despite the external pressure on the Asian palm benchmark, a

weak ringgit was offering some support, a second trader said.

A weaker ringgit makes Malaysian palm oil less expensive to

overseas buyers holding other currencies.

"The ringgit is at a 17-year low. That's always a good

thing," the trader said.

For the past three weeks, authorities in Malaysia, the

world's number two palm oil producer, have allowed the ringgit

to trade below levels that in 1998 prompted them to

impose a dollar peg and capital controls.

Meanwhile, the top producer of palm oil Indonesia expects to

face moderate El Nino weather conditions from July to November,

affecting provinces from Sumatra to eastern Indonesia, the

country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on

Tuesday.

Separately, Indonesia, has issued regulations that change

the way export taxes are calculated for crude palm oil and other

palm products, with amounts due now expressed in dollars rather

than a percentage of the price.

In competing markets, oil prices fell for a fifth straight

session on Tuesday to their lowest in almost six months, as a

rout in Chinese equities cast further doubt on the outlook for

crude demand in the world's top commodities consumer.

The U.S. soyoil contract for August gained 0.43

percent in afternoon Asian trade, while the most active January

soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange

lost 0.94 percent, and Dalian RBD palm oil for September

delivery was down 0.72 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1010 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL AUG5 2139 -6.00 2125 2155 465

MY PALM OIL SEP5 2135 -8.00 2120 2150 3938

MY PALM OIL OCT5 2130 -10.00 2115 2148 16401

CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN6 4746 -56.00 4688 4780 578156

CHINA SOYOIL JAN6 5474 -52.00 5420 5498 523390

CBOT SOY OIL DEC5 30.59 -1.00 30.43 30.74 8190

INDIA PALM OIL JUL5 423.10 -1.00 422.30 425.60 279

INDIA SOYOIL AUG5 567.30 +2.10 565.50 568.70 23725

NYMEX CRUDE SEP5 47.06 -0.33 46.68 47.32 33653

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 = 3.8130 ringgit)

($1 = 63.9400 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.2084 Chinese yuan)