(Updates prices)

* Prices touch 2,233 ringgit, highest since April 6

* Palm feels pressure due to profit-taking - trader

* Palm oil faces resistance at 2,235 ringgit -technicals

KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures briefly touched a five-week top on Wednesday on worries an

El Nino weather pattern would curb yields, but expectations of weaker export demand in the second half of the month kept a

lid on gains.

In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged

huge swathes of rice, corn and palm crops across Southeast Asia. Forecasts by weather bureaus in Japan and Australia on

Tuesday confirmed the return of the El Nino this year.

While very dry weather due to an El Nino can hurt ripening palm fruits, stress due to the dry spell in oil palm trees

can typically only be seen nine to 12 months later.

"The market over-reacted on the news of El Nino, so now it's correcting itself," said a trader with a foreign

commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "There's some profit-taking because of the overbought situation in the short-term

(technical) chart," the trader added.

The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange rose to 2,233 ringgit a tonne in early

trade, the highest since April 6.

But by the day's close, palm had dropped 1.3 percent to 2,197 ringgit ($610.87), the first drop in three days. Total

traded volume stood at 45,171 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the average 35,000 lots.

Traders are now waiting for indications on the strength of export demand for further cues.

While export data from cargo surveyors reported an up to 45 percent increase in shipments from Malaysia in the first ten

days of the month from April, some traders say the surge could be due to buyers rushing to export palm before additional

levies from top producer Indonesia kick in.

Brent crude oil rose above $67 a barrel towards five-month highs on Wednesday after U.S. crude stockpiles fell for a

second straight week, suggesting that the world's biggest oil market is rebalancing.

In other markets, the U.S. July soyoil contract rose 0.1 percent in early Asian trade. The most active September

soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.3 percent.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1008 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL MAY5 2220 +14.00 2220 2220 1

MY PALM OIL JUN5 2202 -27.00 2196 2236 1675

MY PALM OIL JUL5 2197 -28.00 2193 2233 19749

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 5116 +14.00 5110 5172 985976

CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5888 -20.00 5882 5942 966702

CBOT SOY OIL JUL5 33.00 -0.90 32.97 33.36 5956

INDIA PALM OIL MAY5 453.10 -0.90 453.00 456.60 693

INDIA SOYOIL JUN5 602.80 -2.50 602.80 608.50 25625

NYMEX CRUDE JUN5 61.34 +0.59 61.10 61.83 32906

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 = 3.5965 Malaysian ringgit)

($1 = 6.2044 Chinese yuan)

($1 = 63.95 Indian rupees)

($1 = 3.5965 ringgit)