UPDATE 7-India demand fears, weak Japan crude imports knock oil prices

* Brent to average $64.17 in 2021-Reuters poll
* Japan's March oil imports fall 25.0 pct y/y -METI
* China's factory activity growth slows in April
* Japan's April manufacturing expands at fastest pace since
2018
* India infections top 18 million

(New throughout; updates prices, market activity and comments
to settlement)
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell from six-week
highs on Friday as investors unloaded positions after weak
Japanese crude import data and on worries about fuel demand in
India, where COVID-19 infections have soared.
U.S. crude and global benchmark Brent logged their biggest
daily drops in more than three weeks, but saw monthly gains of
near 6% and 8%, respectively. Fuel demand worldwide is mixed,
with consumption rising in the United States and China, while
other nations resume lockdowns to stem the rising infection
rate.
Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $67.25 a barrel, falling
$1.31, or 1.9% on the last day of trading for the front-month
June contract. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 for
June settled at $63.58 a barrel, down $1.43, or 2.2%. Brent
gained 1.7% on the week and WTI rose 2.3%.
"It was the end of the month so there was some
profit-taking, but I think the biggest issues were the reports
coming out of India concerning COVID," said Phil Flynn, senior
analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "That uncertainty has
put the market on edge."
India, the world's third-largest oil consumer, is in deep
crisis, with hospitals and morgues overwhelmed, as the number of
COVID-19 cases topped 18 million on Thursday. The United States
is restricting travel from the country, officials said
Friday. In Japan, another major crude oil buyer, imports fell 25% in
March from a year earlier to 2.34 million barrels per day,
according to government figures. However, the country's factory
activity expanded at the fastest pace since early 2018.
OPEC oil output rose in April due to more supply from Iran,
countering the cartel's pact with allies to reduce supply.
A Reuters survey forecast that Brent would average $64.17 in
2021, up from last month's consensus of $63.12 per barrel and
the $62.30 average for the benchmark so far this year.