* Exports rebound to 1.08 mln bpd from 810,000 bpd in March

* South Korea boosts imports after refinery maintenance

* India imports in doubt due to refinery insurance issue

By Osamu Tsukimori and Florence Tan

TOKYO/SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Iran's April crude

exports will rebound to above 1 million barrels per day (bpd),

industry sources said on Friday, after falling in March to the

lowest level seen since the West imposed sanctions to reduce the

oil flow in 2012.

U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at choking the flow

of oil money into Iran and forcing Tehran to negotiate curbing

its disputed nuclear programme have cut around a million barrels

per day from Iran's crude exports.

Iran is expected to export 1.08 million barrels per day

(bpd) of crude in April, preliminary data obtained by Reuters

showed, up from the 810,000 bpd that was scheduled to load in

March and close to export levels of around 1.1 million bpd in

February. The volumes are based on preliminary loading plans and

final export volumes may vary.

Asian refiners buy the bulk of Iran's reduced export volumes

and have steered clear of U.S. sanctions by steadily reducing

imports. Despite the rise in April loadings, Iranian oil exports

will still be down 36 percent on the year. Exports will likely

drop further this year as buyers reduce imports as required by

U.S. sanctions.

"Given that U.S. sanctions are likely to tighten further,

exports from Iran are not going to be rising," said Victor Shum,

oil consultant at IHS in Singapore. "I don't expect this rebound

(in Iranian oil exports) to be sustained."

The biggest month-on-month jump is from South Korea, which

will triple imports in April to about 190,000 bpd as refiner SK

Energy returns to contracted Iranian import volumes after

shutting down a refinery for maintenance, a company source said.

Japan will also increase imports in April from March as some

refining units are due to restart by late May after maintenance.

Its April volumes will likely more than double from the same

Story continues

month a year ago when uncertainty over sanctions caused imports

to plunge.

China, Iran's top customer, is expected to lift 415,000 bpd

of crude in April, up from 379,000 bpd in the previous month.

Taiwan will resume Iranian oil imports for the first time this

year.

Indian refiners Indian Oil Corp and Essar Oil

are scheduled to lift 3.7 million barrels or 123,000

bpd of crude in April, the data showed, but it is unclear what

they will actually buy after insurance companies said they could

not cover plants using Iranian oil.

The other two Iranian crude buyers in India, Mangalore

Refinery and Petrochemicals and Hindustan Petroleum

Corp, have said they will import none this month while

they wait for clarification from the Indian government on how

they can insure their refineries if they run Iranian crude.

Iran 2013 crude exports (units:1000 bpd)

Country April March February

China 415 379 354

South Korea 190 60 143

Japan 179 148 184

India 123 117 279

Turkey 110 107 118

Taiwan 67 0 0

Source: trade

(Additional reporting by Cho Meeyoung; Editing by Simon Webb

and Tom Hogue)