UPDATE 1-Centamin Egypt sees move to FTSE 250 by December

* Shares rise 2.8 pct on main market debut

* Shares outperformed this year, jumping 230 pct

* Sees start of commercial output in next 4-6 weeks

* Expects to begin exporting gold this month

(Adds comments, background)

By Julie Crust

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Gold producer Centamin Egypt Ltd (CEY.L) (CEE.TO) expects to move into the midcap FTSE 250 .FTMC index, the company said on Friday, as it made its debut on the London Stock Exchange's main market.

It became the sixth company this year to move up from the less closely regulated junior AIM market.

The shares rose as much as 2.8 percent to 138.5 pence, valuing the miner at 1.3 billion pounds ($2.2 billion).

"I think we will see an increase in liquidity, exposure to a lot more funds that don't invest in AIM and I think we should move into the FTSE 250 hopefully around December," Chief Executive Josef El-Raghy said in an interview with Reuters.

The shares have surged 230 percent in London this year, outperforming an 58 percent rise in the index of top 100 AIM-listed companies .FTAIM1 and a 80 percent jump in the UK mining index .FTNMX1770.

Centamin's flagship Sukari project was the largest gold resource outside of the major gold companies to come into production this year.

The company is seen as a possible takeover target by one of the large gold producers once it ramps up output and successfully exports its gold. [ID:nLJ324240]

El-Raghy anticipates gold exports to start this month.

Centamin expects to start commercial output in the next four-six weeks and finish the year with gold production at about 200,000 ounces a year.

It anticipates increasing production to at least 500,000 ounces in 2011, earlier than the initial target of 2012, El-Raghy told Reuters Insider.