Semirara income up 244% on high prices, demand for coal

Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) logged a 244-percent surge in its January-September net income this year, hitting P10.3 billion from just P3 billion previously.

The integrated coal mining and electricity generation company said nine-month earnings for this year also surpassed the full-year prepandemic net income of P9.7 billion.

Net income of P4 billion

SMPC president and chief operating officer Maria Cristina Gotianun said the triple-digit growth was mainly attributable to the 38-percent rise in average selling prices and 51-percent upturn in sales volume of coal.

“We expect our coal segment to continue to do well for the rest of the year because of elevated coal prices and sustained strong demand from China,” Gotianun said.

In the third quarter alone, SMPC chalked up a net income of P4 billion, which was nearly six times the P750 million earnings it recorded in the same period of 2020.

From July to September, the average selling price of coal revved up by 82 percent as exports more than doubled at 108 percent year-on-year.SMPC is seeing a dramatic spike in global coal prices this year due to severe demand and supply imbalances owing to China’s ban on Australian coal and strong rebound in economic activities.

Buoyed by low stockpiles

The market is also being buoyed by low stockpiles in China, Europe and India, as well as COVID-19 restrictions, heavy rainfall in major coal mines and logistical disruptions.

SMPC’s coal business accounted for nearly four-fifths or 78 percent of net income for the period in review.

In the electricity segment, Sem-Calaca Power Corp., which runs a 600-megawatt power complex, contributed 17 percent of earnings.

Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp., which runs a 300-MW facility, accounted for 5 percent.