KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil planter FGV Holdings is optimistic that a U.S. import ban on its products would be lifted by the end of the year, its chief executive said on Monday.

FGV was banned by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2020 due to allegations of forced labour in its plantations. The company has since recruited an audit firm to review labour conditions of its workforce, which is mostly comprised of migrants.

On Monday, CEO Nazrul Mansor said FGV was in the process of remediating gaps identified by the audit firm and that it expects to submit a final report to the CBP by the end of the first quarter.

"We've got long list of items to do in order to get to the levels expected by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and CBP," Nazrul told reporters at an earnings news conference.

The company will upgrade housing facilities, compensate foreign workers who paid recruitment fees to secure jobs, ensure workers have access to passports, and adhere to laws on working hours, Nazrul said.

The firm said it would set aside about 111.64 million ringgit ($24.95 million) to compensate current and former foreign workers who paid recruitment fees to secure jobs.

Migrant workers are often charged a fee to employment agents in their home countries to land jobs in Malaysia. Such payments may result in debt bondage as worker pay off the debt, which has been identified by the ILO as an indicator of forced labour.

Earlier, the world's largest crude palm oil producing company reported a net profit of 337.7 million ringgit ($75.45 million) during the October-December period.

Earnings shrank from 465.1 million ringgit profit in the same quarter last year partly due to higher manuring, upkeep and maintenance costs. Revenue fell 1.2% to 6.1 billion ringgit.

FGV forecast 2023 crude palm oil prices to average at 4,000 ringgit ($893.66) a tonne, and warned of headwinds from adverse weather conditions, interrupted labour supply and rising fertiliser and production costs.

The firm expects production to improve by 10-15% from a year ago as it employs more migrant workers to ease a labour crunch.

FGV is planning to issue a sukuk during the first half of the year to fund its replanting programme, which will be intensified this year, Nazrul added. ($1 = 4.4760 ringgit) (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Martin Petty, Ed Davies)