Gypsum industry news

Ukraine: Knauf says that it hopes to rebuild its Donbass gypsum wallboard plant “as soon as conditions allow.” According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, the company has been supplying the local market from its Kiev plant. This unit was previously shut down but re-opened in mid-2022. Knauf also aspires to play a part in the reconstruction of social facilities for the country by assisting in the building of nurseries, schools and hospitals.

The company’s Donbass plant is located near to Bakhmut on the front line between the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. The site was reportedly bombed directly in May 2022 during a Russian airstrike.

US: Eagle Materials’ sales revenue from gypsum wallboard fell in the first quarter of its 2024 financial year due to declining wallboard sales volumes. The revenue from its Light Materials division dropped by 2% year-on-year to US$242m in the quarter to 30 June 2023 from US$248m in the same period in 2022. The company blamed this on lower gypsum wallboard sales volumes, although it was partially offset by higher prices. Its wallboard sales volumes declined by 4% to around 71Mm² from 74Mm². However, its earnings from its Light Materials division rose by 12% to US$98.1m from US$87.9m. Overall, the company’s total revenue grew by 7% to US$602m driven by strong cement sales volumes and higher prices.

Kazakhstan: Russia-based Volma is preparing to finalise the purchase of a gypsum plant in Kazakhstan. The unnamed target of the acquisition has a production capacity of 120,000t/yr of building gypsum and other products, according to the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. The transaction also includes a gypsum deposit. Discussions for the acquisition first started in February 2023. The plant is expected to become part of Volma in the third quarter of 2023.

UK: Adaptavate has raised around Euro2.3m in its latest investment round. This investment round has been led by Counteract, with Low Carbon Innovation Fund 2 (LCIF2), Semin and Perivoli Innovations. It follows Adaptavate’s previous seed funding round, announced in March 2022, and subsequent support received to industrialise the development of carbon negative construction materials including developing industrial processes to make low-carbon and carbon absorbing plaster and wallboard.

The company is currently building a development centre, including laboratories and a pilot production, line in Bristol and conducting research to complete testing and licencing programmes for its Breathaboard product. Breathaboard is a gypsum-free wallboard manufactured from compostable crop waste. Adaptavate intends to start use Breathaboard produced on the new line in pilot construction projects by the end of 2023. The new funding will also be used to develop other sustainable building products. The company is additionally looking to licence its technology to the large building products manufacturers and has already started conversations with potential partners.

Tom Robinson, the chief executive officer and founder of Adaptavate, said “This funding round is a pivotal point in the acceleration of Adaptavate and our aim to be the world leader in this space. With the support of like-minded funding partners, we are leading the carbon revolution of building materials as a form of carbon capture and utilisation. What I am most pleased about is that this funding round was oversubscribed, which shows the appetite for near to market, industrially scalable carbon absorbing technologies, even at an economically challenging time.”

China: BNBM has held a high level discussion and information exchange with the China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corporation (CSCEC 8). Senior representatives of both companies attended the event. Dong Zhanbo, assistant general manager and chief engineer at BNBM, commented that both companies have a good relationship and they share ambitions for low-carbon future. He hoped that further high-level communication between the companies and future meetings could lead to more extensive and in-depth cooperation. Zhang Guangtao, general manager of the Procurement Management Department of CSCEC 8, expressed the hope that the two companies could work together more closely.

CSCEC 8 is a subsidiary of the China State Construction Engineering, one of the world’s largest construction companies, both within China and worldwide.