ACCOMPLISHING KEY ENABLERS TO DRIVE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN THAILAND’S COFFEE INDUSTRY.

Food industry contributes to significant economic growth in Thailand in the past decade. There are several food products, serving both domestic market and international market, which rely on policies to induce vibrant market economy and competitive edge. However, concerns over livelihood of human capital and environment have become prevalent. Consequently, new ideas and concepts are integrated into policy-making to provide, not only, economic gain, but other social benefits such as inclusive growth and sustainability. Circular Economy (CE) is one of ideal concepts for various industries to accommodate such purpose. Drawing on previous work on Food Systems research, the authors witness a glimpse of how CE can be applied to some local food products; benefiting stakeholders across other industries, including energy, biochemical, cosmetic and materials. Although, Thai Government’s recent campaign on CE policy (BCG Action Plan) begins to take shape, nevertheless, a lack of strong foundation of key enablers to achieve CE is still in doubt. This paper aims to investigate the status of key enablers needed to support CE ecosystem in Thailand’s food industry by focusing on ‘coffee industry’ as a case study. Value chain analysis and gap analysis on 5 key enablers were studied, along with secondary data resource and stakeholder interviews. Lastly, policy recommendations are given to close the gaps of developing suitable ecosystem for CE in Thailand’s coffee industry and interconnected industries.