Gypsum industry news

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan produced 7000t of building gypsum in the eight months to the end of August 2019, a decrease of 82% from 38,000t in the corresponding period of 2018. Total production in the construction materials sector grew in value by 4.3% to US$303m from US$291m from January to August 2018.

Iran: Azerbaijan’s Matanat-A gypsum plant is estimated to cost around US$10m. The head of mining and industrial organization of Semnan Province, Behrouz Asfadi, said that production at the plant was expected to start in the ‘near future,’ according to the Trend News Agency. Jafar Sarghini, the deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, added that Matanat-A is already using a gypsum mine in northern Iran and the plant is expected to be located nearby.

Iran: Azerbaijani company Matanat-A plans to build a gypsum wallboard plant in Iran according to comments made by Mohsen Pak Ayeen, the Iranian ambassador to Baku, reported upon by the Trend News Agency. Jafar Sarghini, Iran's deputy industry minister for mining and mineral industries, said that the company has obtained a license to operate in the country.

Azerbaijan: The president of Azerbaijan has attended the opening of the 0.4Mt/yr Ağdağ gypsum plaster plant built by Matanat-A in Baku's Garadagh District on 30 January 2016. The plant has been built using US$0.9m loan from the national business promotion fund. It employs more than 800 workers.

Suppliers supporting the project include Boemer, Saake, Haver and Boecker, Atlas Copco, ABB, Caterpillar, STP and Erisim. Half of the products made at the plant will be exported to Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Iran.

Georgia/Azerbaijan: The value of imported construction materials from Azerbaijan to Georgia fell by 50% from January 2015 to September 2015, according to a report issued by the National Statistics Office of Georgia.

The country imported 64,870t of gypsum plaster and other anhydrites worth a total of US$8.7m from Azerbaijan during the period. Further, the volume of imported construction materials from Azerbaijan to Georgia decreased by 39.7% compared to the same period in 2014. Officials noted that Georgia imported 107,630t of construction materials, worth US$18.5m, from Azerbaijan during the period. Construction materials accounted for 2.2% of the total volume of Azerbaijani exports to Georgia in the first nine months of 2015. In total, Georgia imported US$392m in products from Azerbaijan in January 2015 – September 2015, or 13.7% less than in the same period in 2014.

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan exported 36,920t of gypsum in the first half of 2015, some 40.9% less than in the same period of 2014 as reported by the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. This was confirmed by the National Statistics Office of Georgia, which receives 100% of the Azerbaijani exports of gypsum.

According to the official figures of Azerbaijan, the declared revenue from gypsum sales abroad totalled US$566,580. However, Georgia has recorded US$5.1m of gypsum imports from Azerbaijan. Georgia has also reported that US$1.38m of gypsum was imported from Azerbaijan in July 2015. Azerbaijani customs issued the goods at the price of US$15.3/t, while in Georgia it was priced at US$138/t. In the first half of 2014, Azerbaijani gypsum was quoted in Georgia at the price of US$170/t.

In the first half of 2015, Azerbaijani gypsum production increased by 1.3% year-on-year to 92,200t, according to the State Statistics Committee. Azerbaijan also imports gypsum from Iran (860t) and Turkey (6.6t). One tonne of imported gypsum is registered for customs duties and taxes at the price of US$52.9/t, three times more expensive than in the first quarter of 2014.

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan produced 108,100t of gypsum plaster between January and July 2015, a 0.4% decrease compared to the same period of 2014.

Azerbaijan: Gypsum exporters in Azerbaijan deliberately reduced export prices of gypsum by a factor of 10 in 2014 to evade tax, according to research by the Turan Information Agency conducted on data from Azerbaijan and Georgia state sources.

According to the research, the export and import values for gypsum failed to match between Azerbaijan and Georgia in 2014, leading to a US$24.1m tax shortfall. Gypsum exported from Azerbaijan was valued at US$17/t but gypsum imported into Georgia was valued at US$170/t. Almost all export of gypsum of Azerbaijan appeared to go to Georgia according to data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia. Turan dubbed gypsum producers in Azerbaijan as the 'Gypsum Mafia'.

The main producers of plaster in Azerbaijan are Garant Holding and Gilan Holding. Both companies are located close to gypsum deposits in the Goranboy region. Gilan Holding has a joint venture with the German company Knauf for the production of wallboard.

Azerbaijan: Construction materials producers manufactured goods worth US$585m in 2014, some 22.2% more than in the same period of 2013, according to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report. During the period, Azerbaijan produced 2.98Mt of cement, a 40.5% increase compared to the same period of 2013 and 192,800t of gypsum, 23.3% more than in 2013.

Azerbaijan: Export volumes of construction materials produced in Azerbaijan to Georgia rose by 13.5% in 2014, according to the report of the National Statistical Service of Georgia. Some 49,530t of gypsum wallboard and other anhydrite worth US$8.48m was exported from Azerbaijan to Georgia in January-May 2014, up from 41,080t worth US$7.47m during the same period of 2013.