Gypsum industry news

UK: British Gypsum has signed a five-year contract with PD Ports to process its natural gypsum imports. The deal will bring raw materials from Europe into the country via Teesport every two weeks where it will be stored in a new bulk storage unit. The gypsum will then be dispatched by rail to British Gypsum’s plants at Kirkby Thore in Cumbria and Sherburn-In-Elmet in Yorkshire. No value for the deal has been disclosed.

Belgium: Gyproc Belgium has installed a new mill to grind natural gypsum at its Kallo wallboard plant. The unit will continue to use flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum sourced from coal-fired power stations but the company is preparing for future changes in supply, according to the HLN newspaper.

Uzbekistan: Knauf holds a 70% share in the gypsum wallboard market. The German building materials producer sold 22.8Mm² of wallboard in 2017, according to the Trend News Agency. It increased the production capacity of its Bukhara wallboard plant in mid-2018 by 30% with an investment of US$22m. Knauf is also planning to build another wallboard plant in the country with an investment of over US$20m. This project is currently at the design stage.

India: USG Boral has held a ground breaking event for a new 30Mm² gypsum wallboard plant that it is building at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. The project has an investment of US$39m. The new plant will be operated by local subsidiary USG Boral Building Products India. The site is expected to become operational by the end of 2019. It will create over 100 new jobs. It joins USG Boral’s 9Mm² wallboard plant at Khushkhera, New Delhi.

"This facility offers us the ability to significantly increase our operations in India and provide our customers in the region with the best plasterboard products," said Frederic de Rougemont, the chief executive officer (CEO) of USG Boral.

Spain: Saint-Gobain plans to invest Euro120m over the next three years in its local subsidiary. In an interview with the Cinco Dias newspaper, Gianni Scotti, the chief executive officer (CEO) for Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and North Africa warned against rising electricity costs in the country. The bulk of the investment will go towards upgrading the Fábrica de Quinto wallboard plant in Zaragoza.

New Zealand: Fletcher Building’s subsidiary Winstone Wallboards plans to build a US$181m gypsum wallboard plant in Auckland. The new unit is expected to create around 200 new jobs, according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper. Negotiations at the Drury site have not yet been concluded yet. The company hopes that the new plant will be operational in 2021 or 2022. The new development is planned to meet local demands and upgrade the existing capacity at Winstone Wallboards’ Penrose plant in Auckland.

Belarus: Construction of Belgips new 30MM2/yr gypsum wallboard plant in Gatovo, Minsk District is expected to be completed in October 2018. The plant will then take another six months for start-up and commissioning before it starts commercial operation in mid-2019, according to Belarus Daily News. The unit is a joint venture between Russia’s Volma Corporation and Germany’s Knauf.

Spain: Saint-Gobain Placo Iberia plans to spend Euro4.5m on upgrades to its Fábrica de Quinto wallboard plant in Zaragoza. The project started in 2017 with an investment of Euro1m, according to the Heraldo de Aragón newspaper. In July 2018 the company plans to spend Euro0.5m towards improving the quality of its wallboard and preparing a production line for new products. The majority of the investment will go towards improving logistics at the unit and expanding its storage capacity. A new wallboard recycling plant is also planned.

Tunisia: Construction work has started on a gypsum plant at Ezzahra in Tataouine. The Euro10m plant will produce 300t/day of gypsum, according to African Manager. The unit is scheduled to start production in early 2020.

US: National Gypsum will reopen its Wilmington, North Carollina wallboard plant which was idled in 2009. The company plans to spend US$25m on upgrading the site. The company also plans to build a rail spur into the plant to support despatch by railway. The site will use raw gypsum from the company’s quarry in Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada.

"We expect to have the plant operational by the end of the year," said chief executive officer Tom Nelson. The company intends to use the plant to grow its specialty gypsum wallboard board product lines, which include mould and moisture-resistant features. Nelson thanked the Wilmington Business Development, New Hanover County Commission, and Wilmington City Council for assistance with the project so far. Thanks was also given to the North Carolina Railroad Company, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and Duke Energy for their support.