According to Fruit-Inform Project's estimates, Russian consumers annually spend about $5 bln for imported vegetables and potatoes.

Moreover, the share of imports in Russian's consumption structure continues to grow notwithstanding solid investments in vegetable and potato production in 2005-2011.

"We forecast that in the season 2011/12 Russia's vegetable imports will be lower in comparison with record import volumes in the previous season", Tetiana Getman, Head of Fruit-Inform Project, says. "However, it must be admitted that to order imported produce of certain quality in certain packaging is often simpler for retail chains than to seek for domestic analogs which are often more expensive. This considerably decrease the motivation to production development in Russia", Mrs. Getman continues.

Tomatoes and onions are the most important vegetables imported to Russia. Their aggregate share in Russia's total vegetable imports accounts for about 44%. Nevertheless, last season's potato imports exceeded onion imports both in volume and value. However, it is forecast that such a situation will change already in this season.