The north plans to increase the number of producers who have the PDO certificate, allowing them to export their halloumi/hellim to Europe and beyond, it emerged on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting with the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce, the north’s ‘agriculture minister’ Huseyin Cavus said his ‘ministry’ “will cooperate” with producers and the chamber with the aim of increasing the number of producers with the certificate.

He added that currently, halloumi exports amount to around 45 per cent of the north’s exports.

In addition, Cavus and the chamber of commerce’s delegation discussed other issues including recent problems faced in organic wheat production and the planned expansion of the legume market.