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Semirara Mining Corp., the country’s largest coal producer, wants
to expand its export market as it expects coal production from its
mines would increase significantly this year.
Isidro Consunji, Semirara chief executive
officer, said the company has recently offered to sell coal to
Korea, Japan and Taiwan although formal agreements have yet to be
reached with regard to this plan.
Semirara is engaged in the exploration, mining,
development and sales of coal resources on Semirara Island in Caluya,
Antique.
He said that based on the coal unit of the
Consunji group, the company’s total coal production is projected
to increase to 4.5 million tons this year from only 3.5 million tons
last year. Of the amount, about 3.9 million tons is marketable
abroad or of export quality.
He added that Semirara is targeting to export
1.5 million tons of coal this year to India, China and Hong Kong
from 800,000 tons it exported to these countries last year.
“So far, we want to focus on our three
existing export markets,” the official said.
Despite the company’s plan to increase exports
abroad, however, Consunji pointed out that the company will continue
to supply coal in the local front.
Most of their clients, he said, are
government-run power plants and some cement manufacturing
facilities.
The mining firm is one of the four major
subsidiaries of DMCI Holdings, the investment vehicle that
consolidates all construction business, construction component
companies and related interests of the Consunji family.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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