Gypsum industry news

China: BNBM’s operating revenue grew by 2.4% year-on-year to US$1.50bn in the first half of 2022 from US$1.46bn in the same period in 2021. Its net profit fell by 11% to US$237m from US$266m. Parent company CNBM reported that its sales volumes of gypsum wallboard fell by 5.8% to 1.09Bnm² from 1.16Bnm2. It said that continued coronavirus lockdowns and problems in the real estate market had affected market demand. It added that the price of raw materials and energy had also risen, leading to increased production costs and mounting product prices.

US: CertainTeed plans to spend US$1.1m towards installing recycling equipment at its Palatka gypsum wallboard plant in Florida. The upgrade will increasing the recycled content of its wallboard products manufactured at the unit by 18,000t/yr while also reducing the site’s CO₂ emissions by 2260t/yr.

The new recycling equipment at the Palatka plant will work by grinding the waste gypsum and waste paper down into fine particles, allowing the plant to capture and internally recycle the materials, which are sorted and then reintroduced to the production process at the plant. The kit will be powered by electricity and will replace older machines currently powered by diesel, lowering the plant’s Scope 1 Emissions from its operations. Additionally, by consuming more recycled gypsum, the plant will become less reliant on feedstock that is shipped to the site from external sources, allowing the unit to also reduce Scope 3 Emissions associated with transporting the feedstock.

Jay Bachmann, the Vice President and General Manager of CertainTeed Interior Products Group, said, “The new technology in Palatka will allow us to increase the recycled content in our products, reduce our carbon CO₂ at the plant, and strengthen our operations at a time of unprecedented consumer demand for gypsum wallboard in the south-eastern US.”

The investment at the Palatka plant follows similar investments that will increase the recycled content of wallboard made at CertainTeed’s wallboard plants in Silver Grove in Kentucky and Nashville in Arkansas. Parent company Saint-Gobain continues to roll out its global ‘Grow and Impact’ strategy, which includes reducing waste and increasing recycling efforts at its manufacturing sites.

New Zealand: Winstone Wallboards says that the allocation model it introduced in July 2022 and other measures it has taken are starting to ease a shortage in gypsum wallboard. The company’s general manger David Thomas said that by operating both of its wallboard plants continuously and an upgrade to its Auckland plant in July 2022 had increased its production capacity. It has also been able to resume importing wallboard from Australia. The company is currently despatching around 3.25Mm²/month of gypsum wallboard.

The company said that is going to reduce merchant lead time between order placement and delivery from October 2022 in order to improve the effectiveness of its allocation system. It hopes that doing this will provide more flexibility along the supply chain for end-users to secure product when it is needed for installation. It also asked tradespeople to continue communicating with merchants about requirements and timings in order for the wallboard producer to understand real demand levels.

Thomas said, “The team and I recognise the responsibility Winstone Wallboards has in supplying plasterboard to the New Zealand market and want to assure you we are committed to living up to that responsibility. That we have retained such a role is not just an outcome of what we do but, a result of the high level of support the market has provided us over decades.”

Switzerland/UK: Sika says it plans to complete its planned acquisition of MBCC Group in the first half of 2023 following the decision by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to further investigate the merger. Previously the construction chemicals company intended to close the transaction by the end of 2022. Sika signed a deal to buy MBCC Group, formerly BASF Construction Chemicals, in November 2021.

Thomas Hasler, the chief executive officer of Sika, said "Sika has already received unconditional regulatory approval across a number of jurisdictions, including Japan, China, Brazil, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Thailand. For a transaction of this magnitude a detailed analysis is not unusual. The adapted timeline for the closing does not impact the strategic attractiveness of the transaction. It remains highly accretive, and our expectation that it will generate annual synergies of Euro160m - 185m is unchanged."