Gypsum industry news

Vietnam: Vina Kraft Paper Co Ltd (VKPC), a joint venture between Thailand's Siam Kraft Industry Co Ltd (part of Siam Cement Group – SCG) and Japan's Rengo Co Ltd, will spend an additional US$126m expanding its packaging paper plant in Binh Duong. VKPC will invest the money to double the existing paper capacity to 847,000t/yr. The plant was commissioned with an initial investment of US$171m in 2010 and is now the biggest packaging paper plant in Vietnam. The new production line is set for operation in the second quarter of 2017.

Russia: Volma corporation is setting up a plant for the production of construction materials and gypsum-based products in the Republic of Adygea. The project has an investment of US$19.7m. It will have a production capacity of 0.24Mt/yr of dry mortars, 0.3Mt/yr of gypsum, 0.54Mm² of gypsum partition blocks. Phase two of the project will build a gypsum plasterboard line.

Peru: Etex's Eternit aims to double Peru's demand for wallboard construction systems, having invested some US$35m in its new, modern plant on the Huarochiri industrial estate in Lima, which was inaugurated recently.

The new plant will produce 12.2Mm²/yr of wallboard. National demand for wallboard in Peru is 10Mm²/yr, although this segment is growing at an estimated annual rate of 20%/yr. Eternit is already looking at a first expansion in 2020. The company will now focus on the residential sector, where there is huge potential for growth. Consumption of wallboard systems per capita ranges between 6m² and 8m² in developed countries, compared to 2.8m² in Chile, 0.6m² in Colombia and <0.3m² in Peru. Eternit aims to double this figure by 2018 or 2019. Currently, excess wallboard production from Peru is exported to Ecuador and northern Chile, where there is higher wallboard demand.

Vietnam: Gypsum and Cement JSC (TXM) has announced that it will target US$314,772 of pre-tax profit on US$29.2m revenues and 4% dividend in 2015. It reported US$384,207 of pre-tax profit on US$28.9m revenues and 3% dividend in 2014. In 2015, TXM plans to invest in the DAP Dinh Vu plant, which manufactures artificial gypsum, and is looking for partners for a project exploiting gypsum in Laos.

US: For the second consecutive day on 17 February 2015, fire-fighters responded to Georgia-Pacific Gypsum's plant in Newington, North Hampshire, for a partial roof collapse at a large storage area used to house gypsum for making wallboard, said assistant fire chief Jeffrey LeDuc. Fire-fighters were called to the plant just before 7am, when a structural engineer reported that the roof had collapsed under the heavy weight of deep snow, LeDuc said. Fortunately, the building had been evacuated on 16 February 2015 when a worker heard some kind of sound from the roof. LeDuc said that after the initial evacuation, utilities had been shut off to avoid further possible damage to the building.

Australia: Knauf Plasterboard is expected to announce that it will begin the construction phase of a new plant at the Bundaberg Port in south-east Queensland. Knauf Plasterboard currently manufactures and distributes plasterboard and accessories out of its Melbourne and Sydney plants.

In 2014, the company bought land from Gladstone Ports Corporation at the Bundaberg Port and is expected to start building a new plant in March 2015. Company spokesman Brian Tisher said that the new plant would create 200 jobs in the construction phase and 55 new positions when the project was complete in 2016. Tisher said that most of the products made would be sold in Queensland, but some would be exported. He added that building the facility in Bundaberg was an obvious choice, as a 26km gas pipeline was recently installed. The plant should be operational by September 2016.

Vietnam: DAP Joint Stock Company has found a solution to deal with gypsum created during production processes. The public has criticised the company for many years because of the 'acid leaking from its gypsum dumping ground.' However, the problem will be solved as DAP has found a way to recycle gypsum, turning it into artificial plaster to be used as a cement additive.

Since 2009 DAP has produced some 2Mt of gypsum, which is being kept at its temporary dumping ground. The ground is surrounded by clay and stone embankments with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) stratum to ensure that the water does not leak. There is a reservoir to collect acid from the waste and pump it back to the plant for use. When the pH content falls below the allowed level, the gypsum will be relocated to a major gypsum gathering ground, covering an area of 0.4km², where it will be recycled into cement additives. A monitoring report from 30 September 2014 showed that the waste water was within the safety limits in accordance with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) QCVN 09:2008/BTNMT standard on underground water quality.

Dinh Vu Gypsum JSC was established in 2010 following initial success in gypsum recycling tests. The company has finished the construction of a gypsum recycling plant and has installed 25% of the processing lines, with a capacity of 150,000t/yr per line. The plant, now in its trial run, has provided 10,000t of artificial plaster to the But Son Cement Plant in Ha Nam Province.

DAP has also joined forces with the Vietnam Cement Corporation (Vicem) to develop a project on processing gypsum. The two sides have signed a cooperation agreement, under which Vicem would be responsible for the consumption of the resulting cement additive.

Saudi Arabia: Mada Gypsum Co, part if Al Rajhi Building Solutions Group and a Saudi producer of gypsum wallboard and related gypsum products, plans to build a new environmentally-friendly gypsum plant in Saudi Arabia. It will meet the increasing demand for gypsum and modern building materials and systems in the GCC and the Middle East.

The new US$67m investment will provide work for around 200 employees. It will have a production capacity of approximately 30Mm²/yr of gypsum wallboard and related gypsum based products and systems.

"We see promising growth in the building solutions market across the GCC region, driven by the strong fundamentals of the construction industry," said D Khalid S Al-Rajhi, chairman of Al-Rajhi Building Solutions Group. "Setting up this new plant in Saudi Arabia also confirms the strategic importance of Saudi Arabia as a platform to serve markets in Africa and Europe in addition to the GCC. The investment confirms our commitment to maintain leadership in the industry."

"The new plant will be equipped the with latest state-of-the-art manufacturing machines and production technology," said Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Bassam, CEO of Al Rajhi Building Solutions Group. "The plant will have a capacity of 30Mm²/yr and is scheduled to commence operation in the third quarter of 2016. Mada Gypsum Co is also proud of the environmental benefits associated with the new plant: This is a genuinely green project. The gypsum on site will be processed and removed, returning the site to its natural state."

Nigeria: Nigeria is to benefit from a US$500m investment in a new gypsum block plant, as an alternative to the conventional cement block. It is a bid by private developers that is projected to slash the total cost of housing by 50%, according to Kingsly Uka Okoronkwo, group managing director of Ojim Royal Investment and Property Limited, a real estate developer.

Okoronkwo said that Nigeria is blessed with diverse minerals, including gypsum, which at the moment is completely untapped. When utilised, it will help tackle Nigeria's housing deficit. "If I have to quote the words of the minister of mines and steel, Nigeria has a deposit of 12Mt of gypsum spread across 17 States of the Federation," said Okoronkwo. "We hope to utilise gypsum in crashing the price of house in Nigeria and create employment for youths." He added that gypsum reduces the cost of housing by 50% because it 'takes away' painting and plastering.

The gypsum block plant is expected to take 18 months to install, although according to Okoronkwo, there have been delays due to 'bureaucratic bottlenecks, which hindered the start of work in November 2014.'

"Our partners are very eager to start off because the finance has been secured and the interest is already reading," said Okoronkwo. "We're looking at US$500m for a start. In the first year of operations, we plan to build 10,000 houses."

Belarus: According to Volma's chairman of the board of directors, Yuri Goncharov, a contract with Germany's Grenzebach for the supply of modernisation equipment for the Belgips plant in Minsk has been concluded. The plant will be operational by the middle of 2015.

Under presidential decree No.34, which was signed on 16 January 2014, Volma was required to invest Euro43m to modernise the Belgips plant by 1 July 2018, including Euro24.7m by 30 June 2016. Within the funding, Volma had to transfer at least Euro2.5m to Belgips. "We will meet the investment project deadline, " Goncharov noted.

According to local media, Belgips' business is being threatened by multiple factors. The supply volumes to Russia haven't changed, but the product prices have fallen by 20 - 25%. There's also a negative effect on Belgips' position by the Polish companies that, according to Goncharov, offer their products on the Belarusian market at much cheaper prices than their domestic ones. There are also challenges regarding the procurement of raw materials.

In response, Volma plans to improve the quality of products through modernisation of the operating facilities. It will also decrease its prices. However, according to Goncharov, prices cannot get much lower. Volma also plans to improve its raw materials supply chain via imports. Goncharov expects to see Belgips in profit in 2015.