Historical market notice: This article was published in January 2020 and reflects Halloumi supply conditions, market commentary and industry information available at that time.
The ever growing popularity of Halloumi has caused a severe shortage of stocks across the global market. Buyers have been scrambling everywhere to get their hands on the beloved squeaky barbecue cheese favourite. Halloumi is a symbol of Cyprus and has an EU granted PDO which gives the country exclusivity in supplying the world’s taste for its main cheese export.
However for a country with less than 1 million inhabitants the task of supplying the world’s demand is becoming trickier as large multinationals such as Burger King and Nandos have added the iconic cheese to their menu. Demand seems to be insatiable and the UK is the number one importer of Halloumi with nearly 11,000 tons purchased in 2019. The UK accounts for 46% of the global demand and sales enjoyed a 10% increase over the last year. However Cypriot manufacturers have been unable to fulfil the ever increasing demands and supply has been extremely limited recently.
The long-term ability of Cyprus to meet growing global demand for Halloumi was increasingly being discussed at the time. With demand rising and production capacity under pressure, manufacturers in other countries were also developing Halloumi-style products to serve the market.
