Last ditch meeting over halloumi with president

President Nikos Christodoulides will meet with the cheesemakers’ association on Thursday afternoon in a last-ditch attempt to stop the latter from going on strike January 10, over a regulation that would see PDO halloumi sheep and goat milk content increase to 19 per cent.

The meeting will take place at 4.30pm with the participation of the agriculture and the energy ministers.

The association had previously decided from January 1, they will flout an agreement made on July 22, which was signed by all those involved in creating PDO halloumi.

In the meantime, cow livestock farmers have said that if the cheesemakers go on strike, they will dump milk outside the presidential palace.

The dispute comes after the Cheesemakers’ Association announced in October that it would not be bound by a framework agreement reached in July 2022, which provided for the “good faith implementation of the legislation” pertaining to changes in milk quotas in halloumi to include a greater proportion of milk sourced from animals other than cows.

Cheesemakers and cattle farmers have requested an extension of the transition period for another five years, which would take the transition period to 2029.

They also said the government had not kept to its side of the bargain regarding the agreement, saying the text of the agreement was never sent to the Competition Protection Commission, with the result that cheesemakers may receive fines for their actions.

On the other hand, goat and sheep breeders have lambasted the cattle breeders for their lack of compliance with the agreement, saying that they “demand the agreement be implemented”.

They added that the law dictates that the transition period ends in July, and that as a result, they expect “strict, transparent, and intensive checks” to ensure that all PDO halloumi complies with the requisite final quotas from that moment forward.