Gypsum industry news

Oman: Gypsum exports from Oman rose by 28% year-on-year to 9.47Mt in 2018 from 7.4Mt in 2017. Major destinations of gypsum included Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Japan and Indonesia. The country’s gypsum producers exported 3Mt to Vietnam, 2.9Mt to India and 1.25Mt to Bangladesh in 2018.

US: Continental Building Products says that a significant equipment malfunction took place at its Buchanan gypsum wallboard plant in New York state on 24 January 2019. The plant will likely be shut until the end of February 2019 to make repairs. Standard insurance coverage is expected to pay for the maintenance work. No staff injuries occurred during the incident.

"We apologise to our customers for any disruptions caused by these supply constraints," said Jay Bachmann, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Continental building Products.

The company expects to limit new orders for shipments normally delivered from our Buchanan plant during the shutdown. The 60Mm² plant represents about 20% of the company’s wallboard production capacity. Plants in Silver Grove, Kentucky and Palatka, Florida will make up some of the shortfall while the Buchanan plant is being repaired. However the company admitted that due to ‘capacity constraints, logistics and product availability’ the two plants will be unable to make up for all of the lost production.

US: Eagle Materials’ revenue rose slightly to US$1.11bn in the nine months to 31 December 2018. Revenue from its Light Materials business, including gypsum wallboard, grew by 3% to US$479m from US$467m. Gypsum wallboard production dropped slightly to 185Mm2. Operating earnings increased by 13% to US$166m from US$146m.

“Adjusting for the effects of unusual weather trends during 2018 and a shift in the timing of wallboard price increases and related buying activity, we estimate that the overall market demand for our building materials, notably cement and wallboard, remained in positive territory in 2018, with growth rates in the low single digits,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Powers.

US: Jennifer F Scanlon, the chief executive officer (CEO) of USG, plans to leave the company following the completion of its acquisition by Germany’s Knauf. The acquisition is expected to complete in early 2019 subject to regulatory approval and certain closing conditions.

Scanlon has held leadership roles at USG for 16 years. As a senior executive, she was involved in the company establishing the USG Boral Building Products joint venture and the divestiture of L&W Supply Corporation. Scanlon became USG’s president and CEO in November 2016.

“It has been a great privilege to serve as president and CEO of USG, and I am very proud of the work done by the USG team to align our strategy with customer needs and accelerate innovation,” said Scanlon.

In addition to Scanlon’s anticipated departure other members of USG’s executive team are expected to leave the company. These include: Matthew F Hilzinger, Executive Vice President and chief financial officer (CFO); Brian J Cook, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer; Dominic A Dannessa, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer and Innovation Officer; Gregory D Salah, Senior Vice President, USG Corporation and President, Gypsum; and Michelle M Warner, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.