Nestlé-Mahagitsiri Nescafé dispute deepens after court rulings

The long-running dispute over Nescafé in Thailand has escalated again, with the Mahagitsiri family continuing its legal fight against Nestlé while the Swiss food and beverage giant has pointed to arbitration and Singapore court rulings to defend the termination of its former joint venture agreement.

The dispute centres on Quality Coffee Products Ltd, or QCP, a former 50:50 joint venture between Nestlé and the Mahagitsiri family that had produced Nescafé products in Thailand for decades. Nestlé says the joint venture agreement ended on December 31, 2024, leaving QCP with no further right to manufacture Nescafé products.

The conflict first spilled into the public spotlight in April last year, when the Mahagitsiri side sought a Thai court order to temporarily halt the production and sale of Nescafé products in Thailand, while still allowing brand advertising to continue.

The move quickly affected retailers, which faced a short-term shortage of products. Nestlé later fought the matter in court and was able to return Nescafé products to the market relatively quickly. It also filed a damages claim over the period in which products could not be sold, with the claim said to be worth hundreds of millions of baht.

During the disruption to domestic production, Nestlé relied partly on imported Nescafé products from countries including Vietnam and Malaysia, while some ready-to-drink coffee products were outsourced for production in Thailand. Nestlé had earlier said it was outsourcing local production and temporarily importing some products from ASEAN countries because domestic production capacity was not sufficient.

Both sides have sought to present their version of the dispute to the public. The Mahagitsiri side, for example, used global content creator Nas Daily to tell the family’s side of the story, featuring Prayudh Mahagitsiri, long known as Thailand’s “Nescafé godfather”, speaking about how the business had been built over decades with a global partner.

What was once a long-standing business partnership has now become a legal battle in Thailand and abroad.

The latest flashpoint came after Chalermchai “Kueng” Mahagitsiri, son of Prayudh Mahagitsiri, spoke publicly about what he described as the background to the contract termination. He alleged that the family had been pressured to sell its shares at a price below fair value, pushing the dispute back into the spotlight.

Nestlé has responded with a statement insisting that Nescafé remains one of Thailand’s most trusted and popular coffee brands. The company said its success had been built on good governance, product innovation, efforts to meet Thai consumer demand and continued support for Thai coffee farmers.

Nestlé said it had long been a major buyer of coffee beans grown in Thailand and remained committed to supporting Thai coffee growers.

The company said Nescafé products had previously been made in Thailand by QCP, which was jointly owned equally by Nestlé and the Mahagitsiri family. Under the joint venture agreement, Nestlé said it had management authority over QCP, including production, distribution and marketing of Nescafé products. It also said the technology and intellectual property used to produce Nescafé belonged to Nestlé.

Nestlé said the termination of the QCP agreement had been submitted to an international arbitral tribunal, which ruled on December 20, 2024, that the termination of all agreements was lawful under the relevant contracts.

The company added that subsequent petitions filed by the other shareholder side with the Singapore court were also dismissed. Nestlé said the Singapore High Court issued a ruling on March 4, 2026, upholding the arbitral tribunal’s award, confirming finally that the termination of the QCP agreement was lawful.

The company said the other QCP shareholder had acknowledged the court ruling and paid litigation costs as ordered by the court.

A previous Nation Thailand report also noted that the High Court of Singapore and an international tribunal had ruled in favour of Nestlé in the dispute over QCP’s Nescafé production rights.

In Thailand, a civil case filed by Prayudh Mahagitsiri and his family against Nestlé and its affiliates is still ongoing. Nestlé said the president of the Court of Appeal for Specialised Cases had ordered the case to be transferred to the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court, which has direct jurisdiction. The case is currently under court consideration.

Nestlé said it remained committed to good governance, strict legal compliance and full cooperation with government agencies and justice-related authorities. It described these principles as central to its business worldwide and as the foundation of trust among consumers, business partners, employees and stakeholders in many countries.

The company also said it had operated in Thailand for more than 130 years and remained committed to doing business in the country for the benefit of consumers, employees, farmers and business partners, while continuing to invest in Thailand.

Nestlé is the world’s largest food and beverage company, operating in 185 countries. It says its purpose is “Unlocking the power of food and beverages to enhance quality of life for everyone, today and for generations to come”. The company has more than 2,000 brands, including global names such as Nescafé, Nespresso, Milo and Maggi. Its headquarters are in Vevey, Switzerland, and the company was founded more than 160 years ago.