North Sulawesi Province (Sulut) exports ant sugar to Malaysia due to demand from that country. At the end of March 2016, North Sulawesi exported 7,600 kg of coconut-derived ant sugar to Malaysia and was able to generate foreign exchange for the country of US$ 16,971, said the Head of the Foreign Trade Sector of the North Sulawesi Industry and Trade Service, Hasudungan Siregar, in Manado, Tuesday (26 /4).
He said that ant sugar was a new product in 2016 which was exported abroad. In fact, he said, coconut derivative products from North Sulawesi are in great demand from foreign countries such as Malaysia but have not been managed properly by exporters. “I hope the demand for ant sugar from Malaysia will be able to encourage North Sulawesi exporters to create new products that are ready for export,” he explained.
He said if there were more and more coconut derivative products, superior products would be more diverse and the market would definitely increase. Because the demand for coconut derivative products is actually very high, but it still can’t be fulfilled, he explained.
The government, he said, will continue to encourage and facilitate as well as a stimulus, but then there must be high innovation from farmers and exporters.
Ant sugar is a powdered version of brown sugar and is often referred to by people as crystal sugar. It is called ant sugar because the shape of this sugar resembles an ant house nesting in the ground. The basic ingredient for making ant sugar is sap from coconut trees or palm trees. Because these two trees are included in the Palmae plant species, in foreign languages, in general, ant sugar is only referred to as Palm Sugar or Palm Zuiker.
The demand for ant sugar continues to increase from time to time. This cannot be separated from the efforts of the ant sugar producers who continue to conduct market education. Especially for the industrial target market which is very concerned about efficiency, they continue to emphasize the practical side of ant sugar compared to using ordinary brown sugar.
