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A tropical paradise in Java - the trees also supply a very sweet commodity. Every morning and afternoon farmer Sukatno climbs up the coconut tree, collecting the sticky sap he needs to prepare his product for market. The making of coconut sugar is a long drawn out process as he hand carries his commodity back home. then the real work begins -- with heating, stirring -- then purifying the coconut sap-- A few hours late the sugar is moulded then packed by hand. Farmers like Sukatno sell their bundles to a state owned company for about 40 cents per sweet kilogram. Wijiono is a sugar farmer coordinator for state owned company PTPN X11. (SOUNDBITE) (BAHASA INDONESIA WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION) WIJIONO, SUGAR FARMER COORDINATOR, SAYING: "We hold on to this traditional way of making coconut sugar because if we produce all the sugar with modern mills it will kill these farmers." Despite the locally made sugar -- Indonesia remains one of the largest importers of refined white sugar in the world. Many people prefer the use of sugarcane sugar because the dark colour of coconut sugar is seen as dirty. White sugar is only produced in mills making the traditional method an increasingly rare sight. Tara Joseph-Hui reporting for Reuters.