Uploaded November 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In 2004 some of Java's sugar mills used a variety of steam operated machinery to crush and process the sugar cane. Some of the machinery is well over eighty years old. This compilation was shot in the following mills: Jatibarang, Purwodadi, Olean and Semboro.
The atmosphere in the mills is very hot, very humid, very noisy and an overwhelming sweet smell of the boiling sugar is everywhere. An unforgettable experience!
This video roughly follows the process from crushing the cane on giant rollers through concentration of the juice by boiling to bagging the final product. The straw-like blocks are compressed bagasse, the dried cane residue after the sugar juice has been extracted. This is used to fuel the mill boilers and some of the locomotives. There are a few shots of the bagasse being raked into the furnace from above, not a job I fancy! An even less appealing job is to rake out the ash from the bottom of the furnaces. The working conditions in this area defies belief.
Thanks to Bernd Seiler of FarRail Tours for organising the tour.
Music: 'So Flute' from the CD 'Tourist' by 'St Germain'
In 2004 some of Java's sugar mills used a variety of steam operated machinery to crush and process the sugar cane. Some of the machinery is well over eighty years old. This compilation was shot in the following mills: Jatibarang, Purwodadi, Olean and Semboro.
The atmosphere in the mills is very hot, very humid, very noisy and an overwhelming sweet smell of the boiling sugar is everywhere. An unforgettable experience!
This video roughly follows the process from crushing the cane on giant rollers through concentration of the juice by boiling to bagging the final product. The straw-like blocks are compressed bagasse, the dried cane residue after the sugar juice has been extracted. This is used to fuel the mill boilers and some of the locomotives. There are a few shots of the bagasse being raked into the furnace from above, not a job I fancy! An even less appealing job is to rake out the ash from the bottom of the furnaces. The working conditions in this area defies belief.
Thanks to Bernd Seiler of FarRail Tours for organising the tour.
Music: 'So Flute' from the CD 'Tourist' by 'St Germain'
