March 17 - Gold imports into Turkey, the world's fourth-biggest gold consumer, are expected to rise by around 50 percent in 2011 and jewellery exports by 15-20 percent, a Turkish gold banker said.

Merchandise at Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Turkey's gold imports rose to 42.49 tonnes in 2010, up 13 percent from the previous year. Jewellery exports reached a value of $1.2 billion.

"We expect Turkish gold imports to increase to 60-70 tonnes, and gold jewellery exports to rise 15-20 percent this year," Selami Erten, director of gold banking at TEB told Reuters.

Gold imports soared earlier this year as investors bought the precious metal in anticipation of further price rises and as Turkey's central bank cut interest rates.

Gold XAU= was trading near $1,400 an ounce on Thursday, down slightly after striking a record last week on rising oil prices due to violence in Libya and a downgrade of Greece's credit rating.

Erten said a significant fall in gold prices was unlikely before global uncertainties were eliminated.

(Reporting by Behiye Selin Taner and Birsen Altayli, editing by Jane Baird)