Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou reiterated the government’s goal of safeguarding halloumi exports, adding that the protection of halloumi as a national product remains unchanged during a meeting with the the Cyprus Cheesemakers’ Association.

In a statement issued on Tuesday following Monday’s meeting, cheesemakers and dairy farmers voiced their concerns regarding the challenges currently faced by the sector. They also came up with a number of proposals for addressing them.

“We welcome the fact that the minister herself had placed the issue of halloumi high on the priorities of her portfolio from the outset of assuming her duties, a fact which was reaffirmed during the meeting,” the statement said.

The statement also added that “the unchanged goal of the association is the protection of halloumi as a national product, the preservation and further enhancement of exports, the utilisation of all locally produced milk, and the maintenance of all jobs in the dairy industry, for the benefit of the country and its economy.”