RTRS-INDONESIA'S CPO EXPORTS TO PAKISTAN TO RISE TO 800,000 T PER YEAR WITHIN 3 YEARS, VS 178,000 T LAST YEAR - INDUSTRY OFFICIAL

JAKARTA, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan's imports of palm oil from top producer Indonesia will more than quadruple to 800,000 tonnes over the next three years, an executive at an Indonesian industry group said on Tuesday.

Indonesia and Pakistan signed a preferential trade agreement in early February, which will result in Islamabad lowering its duty on crude palm oil. [ID:nL4E8D32Z3]

"We expect exports to Pakistan in 2012 to recover," Fadhil Hasan, executive director at the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), told Reuters.

"The highest level we had was in 2007 at 800,000 tonnes," he added. "Hopefully in three years, we can make up that level."

Pakistan imported 178,000 tonnes of Indonesian CPO last year, he said.

Currently, India and China buy the most CPO from Indonesia, with Europe in third place.

RTRS-Soyoil, palm oil prices to rise in 2012 -Oil World

HAMBURG, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Global soyoil and palm oil prices are likely to rise in 2012 with a looming poor South American soybean crop to provide upward momentum, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday.

"We expect vegetable oil prices to appreciate in coming months," it said. "The supply and demand balance is going to become tighter, mainly as a result of recent additional soybean crop losses in South America and smaller-than-expected world production and export supplies of soyoil."

"This will spill over to palm oil, pulling up prices in coming months, despite the seasonal recovery of palm oil production."

Global dependence on palm oil supplies will continue to rise in 2012, keeping exports high in both leading producers Malaysia and Indonesia, it said. Palm oil prices traditionally rise when Malaysian and Indonesian exports are strong.

Meanwhile, the global rise in palm oil production and export supplies is set to slow down considerably on the year in Apr./Sep. 2012, it said.

But a bearish surprise for the global edible oil market could come from unexpectedly high sunflower seed crops in Ukraine and Russia and so larger supplies of sunoil, it said.

The especially cold east European winter means millions of hectares of crops will have to be replanted and sunflower seed will be a major choice, it said.

Russia and Ukraine could together harvest 17.5-19 million tonnes of sunflower seed in 2012 against 18.4 million in 2011, Oil World said.

RTRS-Oil World says it may cut Brazil soy crop forecast

HAMBURG, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday it may again cut its forecast of Brazil's 2012 soybean crop because of continued poor weather and warned a global soybean production deficit is looming because of poor South American harvests.

"The total Brazilian soybean crop could turn out below our latest estimate of 69.5 million tonnes," it said.

Oil World had only made the forecast on Feb. 14, cutting the outlook from 70 million tonnes estimated on Jan. 31 and 72.8 million it forecast in December. This would be well down from the 75.3 million tonnes of soybeans Brazil harvested in 2011.

Concern about deteriorating South American soybean crop prospects after dry weather supported global soybean prices in the past week. [ID:nL4E8DE2OY] The United States is the world's largest soybean exporter, followed by Brazil in second place and Argentina in third position.

U.S. analyst Michael Cordonnier lowered his Brazilian soybean estimate by a million tonnes on Feb. 14 to 69.0 million tonnes, 3 million below the U.S. Department of Agriculture's current forecast. The official Brazilian estimate on Feb. 9 was 69.23 million tonnes.

Trader's Highlight

DJI- NEW YORK, Feb 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended little changed on Tuesday, paring gains after the Dow topped 13,000 for the first time since May 2008, and as higher oil prices damped prospects for the economy.

Greece's securing a bailout to avoid a disorderly default provided some support to stocks, but investors said the news had mostly been priced in to the market.

Fresh highs in oil prices gave investors a reason to sell. U.S. crude futures rose 2.5 percent to a nine-month high of $105.84 a barrel on Iran supply worries.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> finished up 15.82 points, or 0.12 percent, at 12,965.69. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.98 point, or 0.07 percent, at 1,362.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 3.21 points, or 0.11 percent, at 2,948.57.

NYMEX- NEW YORK, Feb 21 - U.S. crude futures rose for the fourth straight session on Tuesday and closed at their highest levels in nine months as Iran repeated a threat of pre-emptive strikes against those it considered enemies and after Greece received a second debt bailout.

Iran's top consumers in Asia said they would reduce their purchases of Iranian oil as it was getting more difficult to do business with the Islamic Republic due to U.S. sanctions and an impending ban on Iranian oil by the European Union by July.

Euro zone financial ministers agreed to grant Greece a 130-billion-euro debt ($172 billion) rescue to avert a chaotic default, pushing the euro near a two-week high against the dollar. That helped improve risk appetite for oil and other commodities.

As the day's trading drew to a close, however, the euro ended flat against the dollar as investors weighed the hurdles that Greece must overcome to carry out the tough conditions in the bailout package.

Brent's premium against U.S. crude narrowed to below $16, from as much as $18 last week, on news that Enterprise Products had begun purging the Seaway pipeline ahead of a reversal that will move crude out of the glutted Midwest and into the U.S. Gulf Coast refinery row. Analysts said that could bring U.S. crude futures closer to benchmark Brent. [ID:nL2E8Dl5M5]

Gasoline futures ended at their highest level since May, lifted by the idling of BP Plc's Cherry Point, Washington, refinery on Friday due to a fire.

Traders will begin weighing inventory forecasts on how U.S. crude and refined product stockpiles shifted last week. Industry and government reports are delayed a day this week due to Monday's Presidents Day holiday.

A preliminary Reuters poll forecast that in the week to Feb. 17 domestic crude stocks fell 400,000 barrels, distillates stocks dropped 1.1 million barrels and gasoline stocks rose 300,000 barrels. Refinery runs were projected to have dipped 0.3 percentage point.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for March delivery settled at $105.84 a barrel, gaining $2.60, or 2.52 percent. It was the highest settlement since May 4, when front-month NYMEX crude closed at $109.24.

CBOT SOYBEANS, Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended firm on export demand for U.S. soybeans, worries about South American production and inter-market spreading against corn, traders said.

Soyoil gained against soymeal on oil/meal spreads.

Traders bought soybeans and sold corn on spreads ahead of USDA's annual Outlook Forum on Thursday and Friday. USDA earlier this month signaled a jump in U.S. corn ending stocks for 2012/13 and a drop in 2012/13 soybean stocks.

Front-month soybeans hit a near five-month high at $12.76 a bushel but closed with modest gains following a choppy session.

FCPO-SINGAPORE, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended up on Tuesday after touching an eight-month high the previous day, supported by a Greek bailout deal and stronger demand prospects indicated by Malaysian export trends.

Euro zone finance ministers struck a deal on Tuesday for a second bailout programme for Greece, providing temporary relief and lifting investor sentiment.

Demand prospects for the tropical oil were also looking up as latest data indicated an improvement in the pace of export.

Benchmark May palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.7 percent to close at 3,268 ringgit ($1,083) per tonne. Prices hit a high of 3,276 ringgit on Monday, the highest since June last year. Trading was active as volumes stood at 28,368 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 25,000 lots.

Reuters analyst Wang Tao said a bullish target at 3,322 ringgit has been modified to 3,292 ringgit for palm oil due to a retracement from the Monday high of 3,276 ringgit.

REGIONAL MARKET- Feb 21 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets edged up on Tuesday as a largely priced-in package to bail out Greece gave a small boost, but concerns that the deal may solve the crisis only in the short term kept riskier assets across the region subdued.

Euro zone finance ministers sealed a $172 billion second bailout for debt-laden Greece on Tuesday that will resolve its immediate financing needs.

In Singapore, a 2.3 percent gain by property developer CapitaLand Ltd and 1.6 percent rise for United Overseas Bank Ltd drove the overall index.

In Kuala Lumpur, Maxis Bhd jumped 2.9 percent after it obtained the Securities Commission's approval for the proposed issuance of a 2.45 billion Malaysian ringgit ($811.06million) sukuk.