Forbes Indonesia - July 2019

JULY 2019 FORBES INDONESIA | 47

Dg field, with

help from his

son Michael

Wiluan.

Michael runs

PT Kinema

Systrans

Multimedia,

started in

2005, which

operates.

Makmur purchases over 30,000 tonnes of co-

conut sugar every year, while consumer goods

company PT Unilever Indonesia secures

100,000 tonnes of coconut sugar annually for

its sweet soy sauce product Kecap Bango. The

premium prices fetched in the export market,

particularly in the organic-certified market,

present an opportunity for increased income

for Indonesian coconut sugar producers. For

the domestic market, coconut sugar is sold at

less than $1 per kilogram, while on the export

market the price range is between $2 and $3

per kilogram as published in Alibaba ecom-

merce platform. That was the reason why

Amir Sudjono, CEO of PT Coco Sugar Indone-

sia, decided to start exporting organic coconut

sugar five years ago. Currently, there are tens

of thousands of craftsmen in Banyumas regen-

cy. About 1,500 of these supply their harvest to

Coco Sugar Indonesia.

“For me, coconut sugar is a heritage. In-

donesia has plenty of coconut trees, but not

enough people are willing to climb up co-

conut trees twice daily to collect the coco-

nut sap and cook it for hours. The produc-

tion process is also about legacy, a teamwork

within a family [since the men are the ones

that climb and sap the trees, while the wives

cook the sap],” says Amir.

“Since the beginning, we’ve only produced

organic coconut sugar and dedicate our pro-

duction to the export market only in order to

get a better price for our craftsmen,” he adds.

Last year, Coco Sugar Indonesia produced

WIJAYANTO/FORBES INDONESIA
Amir Sudjono