RP coal output hits highest level in five years

Local coal production breached past the two million metric ton (MT) level in 2003, its highest over the past five years, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported.

From 1.665 million MT in 2002, coal output rose 22 percent to 2.032 million MT last year, mainly driven by the increased production from the Semirara coal mines in Antique.

The Semirara coal mines yielded a total of 1.858 million MT, from 1.515 million MT in 2002. The increased output of Semirara Coal Corp., the country’s largest coal mining firm, came on the back of a dramatic improvement in its first semester figure, posting a production of 882,917 MT from only 619,043 MT a year earlier.

The DOE also attributed the increase in production from heightened demand and increased utilization by power plants and cement plants.These plants noted that local coal became relatively competitive with imported coal due to the fluctuations in the exchange rate and decreased exports coming from China’s Zianchi province, which produces more than 50 percent of China’s coal.

According to the DOE, Semirara Coal Corp. was also able to meet the increased demand for local coal with its newly-opened Panian mine field. The Panian deposit is producing high quality coal at par with the imported coal.

Coal production at the Little Baguio, Imelda, Zamboanga Sibugay site, operated by a joint venture of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) and the Taiwan Overseas Mining Corp., also climbed to 115,568 MT from 97,608 MT.

Production at the coal mines in Southern Cebu likewise went up to 26,401 MT from 19,269 MT in 2002.

The small-scale coal mining industries in Negros, Zamboanga del Sur, Bicol and Cebu also had a good year following the DOE’s intensified efforts to create livelihood programs in the countryside, in particular in the mining areas. As a result, output soared by almost 50 percent to 30,119 MT from 21,115 MT.

The Philippine coal output in 2001 totaled to 1.229 million MT from 1.353 million MT the previous year. In 1999, coal production registered at 1.176 million MT.