The Russian retail industry is a fast-growing, $300 billion in-yearly-sales market and is the largest consumption market in Europe. Russia has a fast growing middle class - forecast to reach 40% of population by 2020 – greater than all other BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa). During the first 3 months of 2013, volume of sales in food retail (including tobacco and beverages) showed a moderate growth rate of 1.6% compared to the same period in 2012. Russia joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in August 2012 and committed to reducing and binding import tariffs on all agricultural goods, thereby providing more predictability to the trading relationship and opening export opportunities for the U.S. agricultural industry.
