
Gypsum industry news
China to retaliate on US tariffs on gypsum
09 August 2018China/US: China’s Ministry of Commerce has proposed placing retaliatory tariffs on products from the US, including gypsum and gypsum products. The list covers 5207 items and proposes adding import taxes of up to 25% on them. It includes gypsum and gypsum wallboard. The ministry said that the new tariffs will take effect at a date to be announced later on.
US/China: The Office of the US Trade Representative has proposed placing a 10% tariff on mineral products from China, including gypsum products. The list includes over 600 items and it will come into force after a period for public comment in August 2018.
Mineral products affected by the proposed tariffs of interest to the gypsum wallboard industry include gypsum, anhydrite and plaster products made from calcined gypsum or calcium sulphate. Lime, cements and additives for cements, mortars and concretes are also affected.
The inclusion of additional products to a tariff list follows an earlier decision by the US government to tax imports from China worth US$34bn that came into force in early July 2018.
China/Tanzania: China National Building Material (CNBM) has started work on a gypsum wallboard plant in Tanzania. The project is part of its participation in the government’s ‘One bet, one road’ industrial strategy.
Revenue from the group’s new materials division that produces gypsum wallboard rose by 25% year-on-year in 2017 to US$2.03bn from US$1.62bn in 2016. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) rose by 40% to US$577m from US$413m. Its production volumes of gypsum boards rose by 12% to 1826Mm2 from 1632Mm2.
US: Taishan Gypsum and its owner China National Building Material Company (CNBM) have reached a US$1.38m settlement with Meritage Homes of Florida. According to the terms of the agreement Taishan and its fellow subsidiary Beijing New Building Material (BNBM) have agreed to pay Meritage in instalments by the end of March 2018. In return Meritage has agreed to withdraw all claims and allegations against Taishan Gypsum and BNBM following full receipt of the payment.
Yau Woon Foong resigns as director of Sincap Group
09 February 2018China: Yau Woon Foong has resigned as an independent director of Sincap Group. His stated reason was, ‘…to pursue other interests.’ Sincap Group mines and sell gypsum in China as well as trading alumina and thermal coal.
India: The government has extended an anti-dumping duty on imports of gypsum wallboard from China, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE to protect local producers. Saint-Gobain India asked for an extension of the duty on the imports of the boards from these four countries, according to the Press Trust of India. The tariff was originally implemented in 2013 at US$73.8/m2 to run until 7 June 2017. It has now been extended to 6 June 2018.
China National Building Material Company gypsum wallboard sales pick up slowly in 2016
27 March 2017China: China National Building Material Company's (CNDM) gypsum wallboard sales volumes rose by 13.1% year-on-year to 1.64Bnm2 in 2016. Sales revenue from the group's lightweight building materials section, that produces wallboard, rose by 8% to US$1.12bn in 2016 from US$1.03bn in 2015. The building materials producer said that improved marketing had helped it maintain its lead as the largest wallboard producer in China. The group runs BNBM and Taishan Gypsum.
Prosecutions issued for mine collapse in Shandong Province
24 November 2016China: 19 people have been prosecuted for misconduct related to the collapse of a gypsum mine in Shandong Province in December 2015 that killed one worker and left 13 persons unaccounted for. Yurong Company, owner of the mine, bears the principal responsibility for the incident, for failing to monitor and safely maintain the mine, according to the Xinhua news agency. Poor risk awareness and safety control, as well as inadequate regard for possible dangers in room-and-pillar mining were also causes the of the collapse. Yurong has been fined US$0.43m.
Three mine controllers, believed to be liable for the fatal accident, have been arrested by local police and two officials from the local land and resources bureau were found guilty of dereliction of duty. 14 other local officials have also been punished for violating the Communist Party rules. Ma Congbo, president of Yurong, who committed suicide after the accident, will not be subject to criminal liabilities.
US: Louisiana's attorney general Jeff Landry says he has cancelled contracts with attorneys involved in state suits against Chinese gypsum wallboard companies, and is auditing nearly US$7m worth of contracts. Landry said he's auditing the billing and work under five contracts to see what they've done to help Louisiana's case. His office will take over the work, according to Associated Press.
"The state has spent nearly US$7m on outside legal counsel for the Chinese drywall litigation," said Landry. "This use of taxpayers' hard-earned money comes to an end under my watch." He added that payments to the firms ranged from nearly US$5.6m to the Perkins Coie law firm to US$101,700 to the Theriot Group.
Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin and four companies it supplied agreed in 2010 to pay for home repairs relating to damage caused by Chinese gypsum wallboard used mainly in the south of the US. District Judge Eldon Fallon has ruled that Taishan Gypsum must pay damages, and is considering the amount.
China: The Ministry of Justice has returned a lawsuit in which thousands of US homeowners say a 'cabinet-level' agency should pay for damage to their homes from alleged defective wallboard made in China. The ministry says it won't serve the legal papers because the agency is immune to such lawsuits and the legal service would infringe upon China's sovereignty.
US District Judge Eldon Fallon has ruled that Taishan Gypsum Company must pay for damages from the wallboard it made. The judge is considering damages for up to 4000 homeowners in six states. The brief letter from Beijing became part of the court record this week, about 21 months after lawyers for the homeowners sued the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which oversees 117 state-owned companies. It was dated 8 April 2016.
Fallon ruled in 2010 that Taishan's wallboard emitted sulphur gas that damaged the homes of seven 'bellwether' plaintiffs from Virginia, making occupants ill, corroding copper, silver and other metals, damaging appliances and electronics, and stinking up the houses so they were "hard if not impossible to live in." The other states involved in the lawsuit include Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, according to Associated Press.