Nestle sees Russia sales continuing to grow in 2010

* 2009 sales rose 12 percent to 57 billion roubles

* Sees sales rising in 2010 despite cautious consumers

MOSCOW, March 17 (Reuters) - Nestle (NESN.VX), the world's biggest food group, expects sales in Russia to continue to rise this year despite tough economic conditions after forecast-beating growth of 12 percent in 2009.

Analysts have said they think Nestle will outperform its main rivals in 2010, and show balanced growth between volume and price across its chief markets. [ID:nLDE61L110]

"I expect to exceed the numbers of 2009," Stefan De Loecker, head of Nestle Russian operations, said on Wednesday.

The Vevey, Switzerland-based maker of Nespresso coffee and Kitkat chocolate bars, generated 57 billion roubles ($1.96 billion) in Russian sales in 2009, up 12 percent on last year.

"I think that at the beginning of the year (2009), I would not have expected a double-digit growth in 2009," De Loecker told reporters. He forecast growth "superior of 5 percent" for 2009 Russian sales a year ago. [ID:nLA536033]

De Loecker said Nestle was able to strengthen its position in key markets mainly by adapting its portfolio to the changing demands of crisis-hit consumers.

He said the strategy -- which included new products and new packaging -- would help to fuel growth this year, although the market had stabilised and he did not expect it to grow significantly as consumer spending was not yet back at pre-crisis levels.

"Generally I think that the consumer will still be very cautious in 2010, so I do not expect that naturally a lot of growth on the market will exist but I do think that we have a couple of good arguments to expect growth," he said.

Nestle said in February it expected higher group sales growth this year after it also beat forecasts on its 2009 results due to strong growth in North America and developing markets helped by lower commodity prices. [ID:nLDE61I05W]

Rival consumer goods group Unilever (ULVR.L) (UNc.AS) has said it expects an improvement in Russian market conditions from mid-2010. [ID:nLDE62A0WG] ($1=29.16 Rouble) (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Karen Foster)