Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp., an integrated energy company, suffered a 30 percent drop in net income last year due to weaker selling prices for both coal and electricity.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday, SMPC said net income in 2023 clocked in at P27.9 billion, lower than the reported P39.9 billion the previous year. Despite the decline, last year’s bottom line figure was notably the second highest in the company’s history.

“Last year, we expected energy prices to stabilize so we focused on boosting our mine and plant outputs.

Our people played a crucial role in helping us manage the challenges of a fluctuating energy market,” SMPC President and COO Maria Cristina C. Gotianun.

The sales volume of coal has increased by 7 percent, from 14.8 million metric tons, or MMT, to 15.8 MMT driven by a 14 percent rise in exports, from 7.1 MMT to 8.1 MMT, which compensated for the stagnant domestic sales at 7.7 MMT.

However, the average selling price of Semirara coal declined by 26 percent from P5,136 to P3,796 due to index prices retreating as an effect of oversupply from Indonesia, a warm winter, and subdued global economic growth.

During the reporting period, the total electricity sales from SMPC subsidiaries SEM-Calaca Power Corp. and Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. increased by 26 percent, from 3,596 gigawatt hours or GWh to 4,515 GWh.

The growth was due to an 86-percent upturn in SCPC gross generation from 1,713 GWh to 3,192 GWh.

The Electricity ASP dropped by 5 percent, from P5.67 to P5.40 as a result of higher demand, the entry of new capacity, and the interconnection of the Visayas and Mindanao grids.