diff --git a/packages/libvips/package.py b/packages/libvips/package.py
index c3ae509aaab4138d01b15c20556ad1ea8fb31d25..0f7a575bc813cdcc44b9e3c5454cccaaf8dd7ba2 100644
--- a/packages/libvips/package.py
+++ b/packages/libvips/package.py
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ class Libvips(AutotoolsPackage):
 
     # TODO: Add more variants!
 
+    depends_on("pkgconfig", type="build")
+
     depends_on("glib")
     depends_on("expat")