The Russia food boycott has created winners and losers. The impact on home soil has been an increase in production.

According to figures quoted by President Vladimir Putin at the state’s main economic forum in St.Petersburg there were big gains in the dairy sector.

In the first four months of the year butter jumped 8.7 percent while cheese almost touched 30 percent. Fish and fish products rose 6 percent and meat was up almost 13 percent.

And the boost in production has led to claims of fake goods hitting the shelves. The Italian farmers association, Coldiretti believes that the rise in cheese production has led to fake Italian products being sold.

For the losers there is what the EU Commission calls “a safety net”. A package of emergency aid first announced last year is to be extended.

Help for the dairy sector will remain in place until March 2016 and for fruit and vegetable growers to July 2016.

“This Russian embargo had a strong impact in geopolitical terms. Around 300,0