Gypsum industry news

Philippines: Knauf Gypsum Philippines has petitioned the Philippines Tariff Commission to reduce the import duty on imports of Omani gypsum to 0% of value. Currently, Oman’s gypsum enjoys a most favoured nation (MFN) reduced tariff rate of 3%. The Oman Daily Observer newspaper has reported that high gypsum wallboard demand has created short supply of gypsum in the Philippines, according to Knauf Gypsum Philippines. Beside the company’s wallboard operations, the raw material is also critical to cement production in the country.

The Philippines receives a minor share of Oman’s 8.74Mt/yr of natural gypsum exports. The Southeast Asian country has a housing backlog of 6m units.

Philippines: Knauf Gypsum Philippines has signed an agreement with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to provide construction skills training in Calabarzon. The partnership links to the country’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), a poverty reduction scheme that started in 2019, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper. Knauf Gypsum Philippines opened its first gypsum board training centre in the country in Quezon City in mid-2022. It has trained nearly 800 workers on gypsum board installation and jointing skills since the centre opened.

Philippines: Knauf Gypsum Philippines has opened its first gypsum board training centre in the country in Quezon City. The ‘Knauf Academy’ is intended to help train local construction workers, according to the Business Mirror newspaper. Mark Sergio, the managing director of Knauf Gypsum Philippines and Alexander Schmidt, Acting Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy, attended the opening event.

Sergio said “The intent of the training centre is two-fold: we want to make sure that we can improve the capability, the workmanship quality and skills of Filipino installers. We also want to make sure that because of this, we’re able to deliver the best customer experience for our architects, developers and contractor-partners.”