Gypsum industry news

India: Saint-Gobain plans to invest over US$400m in its different businesses, including gypsum wallboard, in Tamil Nadu. Company chair Pierre-Andre de Chalendar and chief executive officer Benoit Bazin met the Chief Minister MK Stalin, senior ministers and officials of the government of Tamil Nadu as part of the announcement. The new funding brings the company’s total investment in the state to over US$950m.

Oman: Oman exported 8.75Mt of gypsum in the first nine months of 2023, a rise of 23% year-on-year from 7.09Mt in the same period in 2022. Data from Oman-based Zawawi Minerals shows that 48% of exports were sent to India.

Austria: Saint-Gobain Austria, waste management company Saubermacher and construction firm PORR have secured permission to build a new gypsum-to-gypsum recycling plant in Stockerau. The plant will cost Euro7m. Saint-Gobain Austria said that the facility will support the government’s Raw Materials 2030 circular economic development plan.

CEO Peter Giffinger said "Gypsum is endlessly recyclable, but special quality criteria must be met in order for recycled gypsum to be used again to produce new panels.”

Kazakhstan: Russia-based Volma has completed its acquisition of a gypsum plant in Inderborsky, Atyrau Region and a nearby quarry. No value for the transaction has been disclosed. The company noted that the stone extracted from the quarry has a gypsum content of 94%. The plant has started recruiting employees and will supply the local market with products under the Volma brand. Reports in the Russia-based media in August 2023 indicated that Volma was preparing to buy a plant in Kazakhstan with a production capacity of 120,000t/yr of building gypsum and other products.

Kyrgyzstan: Representatives of Germany-based Knauf have discussed plans to build a gypsum plant in the country. Knauf General Partner Uwe Knotzer said that the company is preparing to build a plant in the northern Chüy Region, according to the Central Asian News Service. However, it is also considering constructing a plant in the southern Osh Region. As part of the meeting a memorandum of understanding and cooperation was signed between the National Investment Agency under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic and Knauf.

Canada/US: Saint-Gobain has signed a 15-year renewable electricity supply agreement (PPA) with TotalEnergies for the purchase of solar power for its 125 industrial sites in the US and Canada. This 100MW PPA, known as the Danish Fields Solar Project (Danish Fields), is expected to offset Saint-Gobain’s North American CO₂ emissions from electricity (scope 2 emissions) by 90,000t/yr. The project is expected to come online by the end of 2024.

Danish Fields is the third PPA signed in North America by Saint-Gobain. The first PPA, with the Blooming Grove Wind Farm in Illinois, was signed in 2020, and the second, with TotalEnergies’ Cottonwood Bayou Solar Project in Texas, was signed in 2022. All three projects have been supported by Edison Energy, a leading energy and sustainability advisory that consults with the largest commercial, industrial and institutional energy users.

Mark Rayfield, the chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain North America, said “With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will further reduce its CO₂ emissions, demonstrating how fast the manufacturing industry can transform when long term solutions are at hand. This renewable energy project is a new milestone on the way to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 33% by 2030 - compared to 2017 - and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”

The three projects combined are expected to represent a reduction of more than 70% in Saint-Gobain North America’s scope 2 emissions, compared to 2017 levels.

UK: British Gypsum’s non-loadbearing metal stud plasterboard partition systems, including shaft walls, have become one of the first products on the local market to carry the Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) mark. The scheme is intended to provide assurance to end users that the product information for these products is clear, accurate, accessible, up-to-date and unambiguous.

The CCPI was initiated by the Construction Product Association (CPA) as a direct response to Judith Hackitt’s review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety set up in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. The CPA is a UK-based construction industry trade association.

Germany: Rigips held the first meeting for its specialist contractor advisory board on 13 – 14 September 2023 at the Brieselang gypsum wallboard plant in Brandenburg. The managing directors of 10 wallboard construction companies met to discuss the market and future challenges. The program for the two-day meeting included a tour of the plant and a workshop moderated by the Rigips product management and the research and development departments.

Danijel Lučić, the director of sales at Saint-Gobain Isover G+H and Saint-Gobain Rigips said “With the expertise of the 'Rigips Experts', we want to be even closer to the market, from product management through research and development to sales.” He added, “The members of the advisory board are all professionals in modern wallboard construction. We want to include these experts in our considerations when developing products and systems and also when developing messages for and in the market. Your feedback is enormously valuable for us in order to be able to prepare and make important decisions safely.”

Ireland/UK: Belgium-based Etex has appointed Oliver Cripps as its Head of Sustainability, UK and ireland to support its brands, including Siniat. His role will be to push the company’s sustainability agenda, heighten the environmental credentials of its operations and products and decrease reliance on raw materials.

Cripps has worked for 25 years in the sustainability sector in industries including tourism, land management and manufacturing. His previous jobs include Senior Sustainability Manager at Dyson Technology, where he led sustainability for the New Product Innovation and Research teams, and experience working with global furniture manufacturer, MillerKnoll to support research and development and corporate sustainability.

North America: Saint-Gobain has signed a 100MW solar power purchase agreement (PPA), called Danish Fields, with TotalEnergies. The Danish Fields PPA will supply Saint-Gobain North America with solar energy for 15 years, commencing in 2024. Saint-Gobain says that it expects the PPA to eliminate 90,000t/yr of CO₂ emissions across its operations. This is the group’s third deal of its kind.

Saint-Gobain North America CEO Mark Rayfield said “With this agreement, Saint-Gobain North America will further reduce its CO₂ emissions, demonstrating how fast the manufacturing industry can transform when long term solutions are at hand. This renewable energy project is a new milestone on the way to meeting Saint-Gobain’s commitment to reduce Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 33% by 2030 compared to 2017, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.”