December 03, 2008

Napocor needs more coal in 2008

Reuters reported that Philippine top electricity producer National Power Corp will need 5 million tonnes of coal in 2008, up slightly from last year's 4.7 million tonnes and hopes to buy around 10 cargoes of the coal from China.

Mr Juan Carlos Guadarrama logistics vice president told reporters in Beijing that it is replacing two cargoes bought from BHP Billiton in South Africa with cargoes from Indonesia. Those two cargoes an unusual commitment to ship into Asia from South Africa were for May or June shipment but could not be performed.

The executive on the sidelines of an industry conference without elaborating said that "Actually, that one did not push through. They BHP could not work by our contract terms. Maybe somebody else might have offered higher prices."

He added that Napocor had negotiated to buy a cargo apiece from Indonesia's Gudung Bayan and Straits Resources, and that those two shipments were intended partly to offset the loss of its South African cargoes.