"This must be for diabetics," a lady in her 50s said to a friend, as she walked past the organic food shelves in a Stockmann supermarket near the centre of the capital.

She expressed surprise when told organic foods are not only for diabetics, but beat a hasty retreat after checking prices.

"All food should be organic," she said. "And cheap."

Stockmann has had mixed results selling organics.

"People are not buying much, these products are very expensive," Snezhana, a section manager, told Reuters.

The store offers pastas, soya products, rice, canned vegetables, juices, teas, coffees and chocolates imported from France and Germany at prices significantly higher than those of non-organic equivalents.

Natalya, a manager at a supermarket of the Perekryostok chain, said a small organic food section occupying 4.5 square meters of 1,500 opened in the store in November 2004.

"Trade goes well. Clients are mostly local residents, both Russians and foreigners, as we have many diplomatic missions around," she said, though shoppers seemed more interested in traditional food.

The Ryzhaya Tykva (Orange Pumpkin), apparently the only specialty organic shop in Russia, opened in April 2004 near the city centre. Since then it has increased offerings by 50 percent to 1,500 items, Maria Fedoseyeva, shop deputy director, said.

"We have a stable clientele, mostly Russians with above average incomes, and foreigners. Some live close by, but some come from the outskirts of the city to shop," she said.

When asked why the shop was empty in mid-afternoon, she said with a smile: "Perhaps, you should come at a different time."

The shop has a range of foreign suppliers but offers Russian products, too -- milk, dairy and honey. Unlike the imports, which carry green price tags, these are labelled in orange, as there are no official standards for organic products in Russia.

A sister shop opened in February in prestigious Zhukovka Place, outside Moscow, where many rich Russians live but closed shortly afterwards for lack of customers, Fedoseyeva said.

PROSPECTS DIM

Agriculture officials have said Russia should export more organics, but only a few small farms have European certificates to export mainly buckwheat, wild berries and mushrooms.

"Some 9,000 hectares of land have been officially certified by foreign companies," said Tatyana Rybalova, an analyst with the Institute for Agricultural Market studies.

Many Russians grow vegetables on plots near country homes for their own use, but these hardly qualify as organics as the use of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides is commonplace.

Mikhail Mishchenkov, managing partner of the CVS Consulting market research agency, told Reuters that draft rules for cultivating organics have been prepared but he did not say when they might be submitted to parliament.

"The market for ecologically clean products in Russia has large potential -- in the last 10-15 years much land has not been treated with chemical agents and it can obtain a status, permitting it to grow ecologically clean plants," he said.

"People are ready to pay more. It is natural, because people, especially in big cities feel a shortage of healthy, high-quality food," Mishchenkov said.

Agricultural analyst Rybalova is sceptical.