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Semirara
Mining Corp. said 2007 sales may rise by 62 percent as
the company starts exports to
China
and India.
Sales may increase to 3.4 million metric
tons from about 2.1 million tons last year, vice
president James Garcia said in an e-mailed statement
Tuesday.
Semirara is boosting shipments abroad
after domestic sales dropped as power plants turned to
alternative sources of fuel.
China
and India, the world’s two fastest-growing major
economies, are increasing imports to meet rising local
demand. China became a net coal importer for the first
time in January.
“We expect to further expand our present
client base,’’ Garcia said. Higher oil prices also make
coal a cheaper alternative, he said.
The company plans to start exporting
600,000 tons of coal to China this year and double the
shipment in 2008, chief executive Isidro Consunji said
in May. China, the world’s biggest coal producer and
consumer, uses coal to generate two-thirds of its power.
Semirara is boosting overseas sales as
thermal coal prices for the fuel shipped from
Australia’s Newcastle port, an Asian benchmark, reached
a record $90.90 a metric ton in the week through
December 7. Prices have risen 79 percent from a year
earlier, according to McCloskey Group. Benchmark oil
prices have climbed 44 percent in the last year,
reaching a record $91.29 on November 21.
Semirara sold the product at between $32
and $40 a ton last year, the company said in July. Sales
volume in 2006 dropped 16 percent from a year earlier.
The company won a contract to supply coal to a
210-megawatt power plant owned by the Philippine unit of
STEAG GmbH, Semirara said, without saying where the
plant is located.
The coal miner has more than doubled
this year, outp erforming the Philippine Mining & Oil
index, which has gained 91 percent. Semirara shares
Tuesday fell 1.2 percent to P43 at the close. Bloomberg |
