KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Pakistan's palm oil imports may reach220,000 tonnes a month over the next few months because of the prospect ofexports to neighbouring Afghanistan and a reduced cottonseed oil crop,traders said on Monday.Pakistan normally buys 80,000 tonnes of palm oil a month from theworld's largest producers, Malaysia and Indonesia."We expect strong demand to continue until March. When things aresettling down, Pakistan will be exporting a lot of oil to Afghanistan,"said one trader in Malaysia."About 70 percent of the oil shipped to Pakistan will come fromMalaysia and I expect imports to reach 220,000 tonnes in November andDecember each," he added.Some traders dealing with Pakistan said rising imports also stemmedfrom several purchases by the United Nations to help the Afghan refugees.Other factors included a smaller local cottonseed oil crop, which isexpected to fall 50,000 tonnes to 400,000 this year, and better demandduring the Muslim Ramadan fasting month.The U.N. said on Sunday Afghan refugees had started returning from Iranto their homes in the west of the country but tens of thousands were stilltrying to flee from the east into Pakistan.The United States has led a war to punish the Taliban for harbouringSaudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden who is accused of masterminding theSeptember 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 4,000people.

FREIGHT RATES SET TO RISETraders said freight rates from Malaysia and Indonesia to major buyerssuch as Pakistan and India were expected to increase soon because ofstrong demand.Rates to Pakistan, for instance, hovered at $26-$28 a tonne this weekfrom $23-$24 in early October."I am sure India's imports will reach 350,000 tonnes in November andDecember respectively. They have no choice but to buy palm oil because oftight soyoil stocks," said one trader."Farmers in India are selling their winter oilseed crop, but the oil isstill in the hands of local buyers who will only release it to the marketin the future. India can't crush the whole crop because of its limitedcrushing capacity," he said.India, the world's largest edible oil importer, normally buys 250,000tonnes of palm oil a month from Malaysia and Indonesia.India is expected to continue buying palm oil until March because SouthAmerican soyoil coming from the next harvest will only reach the market inApril.India's winter oilseeds production in 2001/02 (November-October) isexpected to rise to 12.3 million tonnes from 10.85 a year ago because ofgood monsoon rains.Some traders said China's palm oil imports from Malaysia and Indonesiawould be steady at 240,000-250,000 tonnes in November.There was also talk China had used up most of this year's importquotas, which totalled 1.4 million tonnes. China bought 174,008 tonnes ofpalm oil from Malaysia in October."We learn only around 170,000 tonnes is left from the quota. We alsoobserve imports have already reached 1.8 million tonnes so far this year,which suggests that China is buying more oil," said one trader.China's palm oil imports are projected to rise to 2.4 million tonnes in2002, following its entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).