The decline in coal prices globally had prompted 30% dip in the net income of Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) to P27.9 billion last year from record-high earnings of P39.9 billion in 2022.

According to SMPC President and COO Maria Cristina C. Gotianun, the drop in global fuel prices had already been anticipated, thus, the company had concentrated more on reinforcing production at its coal mine as well as in enhancing the operational efficiencies of its power plant operations.

“We expected energy prices to stabilize so we focused on boosting our mine and plant outputs,” she stressed; while giving credit to SMPC employees on their “crucial role in helping us manage the challenges of a fluctuating energy market.”

SMPC further qualified “all-time high coal shipments and record electricity sales softened the impact of weaker selling prices for both coal and electricity.”

Within fourth quarter of 2023, however, the company’s bottom line was still at a robust growth of 36%; yielding an income of P5.3 billion versus P3.9 billion in a comparative period last year – and that was mainly propelled by higher coal shipments.

Coal sales within October-December last year had been on 77% upswing to 5.3 million metric tons from year-ago’s 3.0MMT, boosted mainly by exports which had grown more than three-fold to 3.5MMT from 1.1MMT.

The average selling price of coal last year skidded 26% to P3,796 per ton vis-a-vis P5,136 in 2022; “as index prices retreated due to an oversupply from Indonesia, a warm winter and subdued global economic growth.”

Conversely, the firm’s coal sales had risen 7.0% to 15.8 million metric tons (MMT) from a leaner level of 14.8 MMT in the previous year – and the income-driver had been its exports which climbed 14% to 8.1MMT versus 7.1MMT in 2022.

SMPC emphasized that domestic demand had been stagnant, hence, the escalation in export volumes more than compensated the downtrend in revenues for volumes sold locally.

On the power generation front, SMPC’s amalgamated electricity sales from its subsidiaries SEM-Calaca Power Corporation (SCPC) and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation (SLPGC) went up 26% to 4,515 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from 3,596 GWh.

The company primarily cited the 86% uptick in gross generation of its SCPC facility; which hovered at 3,192 GWh from the prior year’s 1,713 GWh.

Nevertheless, electricity prices have trended 5% lower to P5.40 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from the previous year’s average of P5.67 per kWh – and that had been mainly attributed to the entry of new capacity additions as well as the completion of the linkup of transmission facilities between Visayas and Mindanao.