Drive to boost promising speciality coffee sector

Thailand’s speciality coffee market offers promise, with the market estimated to be worth 2 billion baht per year, according to the Specialty Coffee Association of Thailand (Scath).
Speciality coffee is classified as having met standards of excellence throughout every stage of the supply chain, ranging from the meticulous care taken while the crops are cultivated in highly specific conditions through to harvesting and processing, according to the association.
Nutrada Kunavivattananon, president of Scath, said the cost of producing coffee beans in Thailand is quite high when compared with other nations in the region’s coffee belt such as Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, leading to a lack of competitiveness when measured against regional peers.
The association’s members, which include growers, exporters, and owners of coffee shops, wish to join hands develop and support speciality coffee, raising the country’s competitiveness in the market, Ms Nutrada noted.
Describing unique aspects of the speciality coffee market, Ms Nutrada said the prices of speciality coffee beans tended to be at least 60% higher than regular Arabica coffee beans.
She said the speciality coffee market in Thailand continues to grow by at least 25% per year in terms of the number of shops and baristas in the country.
This growth is driven by changing consumer behaviour and large operators expanding into the speciality coffee market.
While the speciality coffee market is estimated to be worth 2 billion baht per year, as part of the premium coffee market valued at 20 billion baht per year, estimates suggest the entire coffee market is worth 100 billion baht per year.
The association had teamed up with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to develop coffee varieties, raise awareness about speciality coffee and disseminate knowledge to farmers, she said.
“Java is listed among the top speciality coffee varieties produced in Thailand,” she said.
Kwankaew Sirijinda, head of commercial assets and key account management at Central Pattana Plc, said the company collaborated with Scath to organise Thailand Coffee Hub 2024 nationwide, with the aim of supporting the Thai coffee industry’s drive to emerge at the global level.
“Thailand Coffee Hub follows Central Pattana’s brand purpose, which is committed to creating ‘Coffee Hubs’ in every region as a backbone that gathers together gems of the coffee industry in each area in order to create a strong ecosystem,” she said.
Thailand Coffee Hub is entering its third year with the initial launch of the campaign getting underway on Wednesday at CentralWorld. This event continues through Oct 8, before commencing a roadshow format in every region until next year under the theme: “The Coffee Universe: A Space of Endless Passion”.
“The company forecasts the event will draw 150,000 visitors throughout the seven-day period,” Ms Kwankaew said.
One objective of the collaboration is to support both the business-to-customer and business-to-business segments to develop coffee entrepreneurs, while meeting the needs of consumers nationwide, she said.