22/09/2016 (Reuters) - India's palm oil imports in 2016/17 are likely to rise 9 percent to 9.24 million tonnes from a year earlier, as a growing population and higher income levels drive up edible oil consumption, a leading industry analyst said on Wednesday.

Higher purchases by India, the world's biggest importer of cooking oils, could further push up benchmark palm oil prices , which are already trading near a five-month high.

"Per capita consumption (of edible oils) has been rising due to the growth in population and rising income levels," trade expert and managing director of trading firm G.G. Patel & Nikhil Research Company, Govindbhai Patel, told an industry conference in the tourist state of Goa.