For coffee Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and smallholders across Southeast Asia (SEA), the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has arrived as an unwelcome complexity. A survey of 25 SEA coffee stakeholders conducted ahead of this below landmark webinar captured reality on the ground: while EUDR awareness is broadly high, many businesses have not yet used a single compliance tool. Not for lack of interest, but for lack of clarity — on which tools to trust, how to apply them, and whether they can realistically afford the transition.
From Awareness to Action
On 26 February 2026, nearly 100 coffee stakeholders from across ASEAN joined an online webinar titled Building an ASEAN Learning Community on Market Policy and EUDR Information Sharing — co-organised by the ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF), the Team Europe Initiative on Deforestation-Free Value Chains (TEI), the International Coffee Organization’s Coffee Public-Private Task Force (ICO-CPPTF), and the European Coffee Federation. The event was not another awareness session. It was the first concrete step toward building a regional infrastructure that ASEAN coffee SMEs and smallholders have been missing.
Tools and Support, Where They Are Needed Most
TEI Hub’s SEA Regional Coordinator presented the regional support programmes. Across 37 countries, TEI flagship projects — including the SAFE programme active in Vietnam and Indonesia, and the recently-concluded EUDR Engagement Project — have developed practical resources: training-of-trainer materials available in local languages, country-specific compliance guides, and introduction of open-source geolocation tools for farm mapping. All resources are freely accessible on the Zero Deforestation Hub and will be hosted on the ACF Regional Knowledge Hub for open access across ASEAN.
The pre-event survey underlined exactly why these tools matter: respondents did not just want regulatory updates. They wanted case studies, tool demonstrations, and step-by-step compliance pathways — practical guidance tailored to the realities of operating in such complex regional supply chains.
A Regional Community Takes Shape
The webinar marked a concrete milestone. The ACF board has formally approved the creation of an ASEAN Learning Community on Market Policy — a structured regional platform for peer exchange, compliance guidance, and shared tools. ASEAN joins Mesoamerica and Africa, where similar learning communities are already active under Promecafé and the African Fine Coffee Association respectively.
The community is designed to be larger than EUDR itself — addressing traceability, data systems, legality, and smallholder inclusion as interconnected issues. For a coffee SME sourcing from hundreds of smallholder farmers across multiple provinces, none of these challenges can be solved in isolation.
The Road Ahead
Next steps are already in motion. TEI’s upcoming delegation visit in April 2026 will bring 15 delegates from Asia and the Pacific to meet European institutions and member state organisations and dialogue about EUDR — building a direct bridge between producing and consuming countries. The ACF International Coffee Summit in Singapore in November 2026 is envisioned as the platform for the official launch of the ASEAN Coffee Learning Community.
