MOSCOW, March 24 (RIA Novosti) - According to a survey published on Tuesday, the majority of Russian consumers prefer to cut their grocery spending and pay more for fruit, vegetables and dairy products.

The objective of the survey, conducted by Profi Online Research and Qualitel Data Services, was to establish what goods and services Russian consumers were prepared to buy during the economic crisis, even if prices were high.

"It turned out that most of the respondents do not cut spending on baby food (73%), fruit (39%), dairy products (38%) and vegetables (33%) during the crisis," the Profi Online Research group said in a press release. "However, people are not prepared to pay more for groceries, pasta, eggs, seasoning and tinned foods."

The research revealed that Russian consumers were ready to spend more when buying goods for their family members.

The majority of respondents failed to give a reason why they bought non-food products at higher prices. However some people said they liked to treat themselves sometimes by buying expensive shoes (30%), cosmetics (29%) and clothes (29%).

Profi Online Research is a full-service market research company, providing consumer surveys, as well as market segment research using both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

The survey was conducted in February 2009 in Russia's largest cities.