diff --git a/package/mender-artifact/mender-artifact.mk b/package/mender-artifact/mender-artifact.mk
index 7ca8e7280f..f8b364166f 100644
--- a/package/mender-artifact/mender-artifact.mk
+++ b/package/mender-artifact/mender-artifact.mk
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ HOST_MENDER_ARTIFACT_LICENSE_FILES = \
 	vendor/github.com/stretchr/testify/LICENSE \
 	vendor/github.com/urfave/cli/LICENSE \
 	vendor/github.com/sirupsen/logrus/LICENSE
+HOST_MENDER_ARTIFACT_DEPENDENCIES = host-xz
 
 HOST_MENDER_ARTIFACT_LDFLAGS = -X main.Version=$(HOST_MENDER_ARTIFACT_VERSION)