Business Mirror reported that coal producer Semirara Mining Corporation has successfully entered the Thailand market during the Q1 of the year, helped by its new trading partners.
The Philippine company, now in its third year of doing business in the international market, scored a success in gaining access to Thailand, a new market for Semirara.
Semirara said that new partnerships in coal trading have been forged that helped it clinched the Thai market, adding that coal traders Noble Energy and Coal Pulse were instrumental in cultivating Thailand as a buyer of Philippine coal.
The company said that coal exports remained robust in the 3 months to March, despite a 2% decline in deliveries compared to a year earlier. It said that coal exports dropped to 443,101 tonnes, 453,670 tonnes during the same comparable period.
Semirara said that Holcim Cement as a buyer is a significant marketing breakthrough. Holcim is one of the county’s biggest cement companies.
It said that sales to cement plants dropped to 148,777 tonne during the period from 232,125 tonne and sales to other power plants dropped by 62% to 77,421 tonne from 138,381 tonne. Its total sales volume for the coal producer fell 4% to 1,078,344 tonne from 1,120.962 tonne. The company earlier bared plans to export 2.5 million MT of coal to India and Thailand this year.
Mr Cesar Villanueva marketing manager of Semirara said that Semirara has targeted coal production to reach 5 million MT this year. He said that half of its production target is for export buyers, the other half for the domestic market.
Semirara’s local customers include Global Power, Mindanao’s coal plant owned by STEAG State Power and Aboitiz Group, Asia Pacific Energy Corporation majority owned by Formosa Heavy Industries Corporation of Taiwan as well as cement plants and other companies.
Based in Semirara Island, Caluya, Antique, Semirara is into mining and exploration, developing and selling coal resources.
