The astronomical rise in coal prices in the world market has driven the net income of vertically integrated energy firm Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) to grow 244 percent in the nine-month period this year to P10.3 billion from P3 billion in the same period last year.

The Consunji-led company specified that bottom line result within January to September this 2021 even surpassed its record profit of P9.7 billion logged prior to the strike of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just within the third quarter, the net earnings of the company topped P4.0 billion, roughly six times the P750 million logged in a comparative period last year.

SMPC qualified that “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.”

According to SMPC President and Chief Operating Officer Maria Cristina C. Gotianun, the company is expecting its coal business segment “to continue to do well for the rest of the year because of elevated coal prices and sustained strong demand from China.”

The average selling prices of coal from July to September this year alone had drastically climbed by 82-percent; hence, that had been highly beneficial to the export sales of Semirara that had expanded 108-percent on a year-on-year basis.

“Global coal prices are seeing a dramatic spike this year due to severe demand and supply imbalances owing to China’s ban on Australian coal, strong rebound in economic activities and low stockpiles,” SMPC stressed.

Adding up to the pressure on coal prices had been the continuing restrictions being enforced because of the Covid-19 pandemic; the heavy rainfall being experienced in coal mines and logistical disruptions.”

In the firm’s other business segment on electric power generation, these have considerably leaner contribution to profitability – with the Sem-Calaca coal plant’s income just accounting for 17-percent of the total earnings (or roughly P1.75 billion); and it was even lower at 5.0-percent (about P515 million) for Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation.

“In terms of net income contribution, coal accounted for 78-percent of SMPC’s net income,” the Consunji-led energy company has emphasized.

The substantial jump in SMPC’s income this year was somehow a reverse of the anemic scale of profitability it posted at the height of the coronavirus health crisis last year.