Gypsum industry news

Brazil: Knauf has inaugurated its second wallboard plant in Camacri, Bahia. The US$66m plant will increase the company's annual production in Brazil by 80% to 45Mm²/yr. The company has forecast a 15% increase in sales volume in 2014, with the new plant supplying the north, north east and part of the central west regions of the country, with the possibility of exporting to the Caribbean and Africa. The plant is expected to be operating at full capacity within four to five years.

Russia: Saint-Gobain has announced that it intends to build a gypsum plant in one of the lime fields in Chelyabinsk Oblast. The plant will produce products under the Gyproc name. The investment amount has not been reported. Saint-Gobain also has a company producing Linerock basalt fibre at the Minplita plant in Chelyabinsk Oblast.

US: United States Gypsum (USG) has announced that it has no plans to build a wallboard plant in Crystal River, Florida.

Although the company has received approval from the Southwest Florida Water Management District for a 1.750ML/day general water use permit, USG officials said that the company doesn't need the plant right now. However, officials said that USG is keeping its options open for the future.

Read the original story here: USG gets water permit for wallboard plant

US: United States Gypsum (USG) has received a 1.750ML/day water use permit for a planned wallboard and joint compound (spackle) manufacturing plant near the Duke Energy complex in the city of Crystal River, Florida.

In 2011 USG bought 0.716km² of land near the Progress Energy Florida power plant, now Duke Energy, to warehouse synthetic gypsum that is created by scrubbers at the coal-burning plants. USG takes all of the gypsum produced at the plant and moves it to the site by conveyor belt.

USG now plans to construct a gypsum processing facility at the site. Part of the water permit detailed a request for two 30.5cm wells to be located on the plant site, to which water will be piped. The plant will run six days a week, possibly seven during the peak building season.

Progressive Water Resources, which is handling the application process for USG, also investigated using reclaimed wastewater from Crystal River. However, that water has already been committed to Duke Energy.

Brazil: Etex has started the construction of a new wallboard plant in Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro with an investment of Euro60m. The plant will open in mid-2015.

"The investment enables Etex to expand its footprint in Latin America, an emerging market of strategic importance. Brazil plays a leading role in the economic development of the region. The country's wallboard market is growing rapidly, at twice the rate of the construction industry,'' said Fons Peeters, Etex's CEO.

Construction work for the new plant started on 31 March 2014. An estimated 150 employees will manufacture three types of high-performance wallboard: standard, humidity-resistant and fire-resistant. The plant will serve markets in the south and southeast regions of Brazil. The new plant will be Etex's third wallboard production facility in the country joining its existing plants in Pernambuco state.

Brazil: Knauf plans to set up a plant in Camaçari, Bahia with an investment of US$61.5m. Commissioning is due in 2014. The plant will produce gypsum products and the metallic structures for construction systems. It will be the second such plant in Brazil after the first in Queimados, Rio de Janeiro. Knauf's total capacity in Brazil will grow from 24 Mm² to 44Mm² of gypsum products.

UK: Siniat has invested more than Euro300,000 in the construction of a new laboratory facility at its manufacturing plant in Portbury, Somerset.

The lab provides a high-specification environment for Siniat's production, maintenance and quality assurance teams and has enabled it to consolidate all three functions, which were previously based in different parts of the site, in one central, integrated location at the heart of the plant. Construction work began in May 2013 and is now complete, with the lab fully operational.

The facility will also act as an area where Siniat can welcome customers and other visitors to discuss its latest innovations and demonstrate key product performance capabilities such as fire and water resistance.

The project is just one step in a long-term vision for improving the site, says Stephane Mettavant, Plant Manager. "We've embarked on an ambitious programme of change for our Bristol plant since becoming Siniat (in October 2012). It's focused on improving facilities for our customers and our employees and creating an environment in which we can share our expertise."

"The programme has already delivered tangible results and helped us to streamline our processes throughout the plant," said Mettavant. "We have been successful in reducing the number of customer complaints we receive to industry-leading levels and the new lab represents the next stage of reinforcing that quality assurance.

Siniat was formerly known as Lafarge Plasterboard. It was acquired from Lafarge by Belgium's Etex group at the end of 2011 and began trading as Siniat in October 2012.

US/Canada: Georgia-Pacific plans to 'idle' one wallboard plant in Caledonia, Ontario and one wallboard plant in West Memphis, Tennessee in early 2014. Eric Abercrombie, a spokesperson for Georgia-Pacific, attributed the decision to production optimisation and a slow recovery in the building materials market.

"We are doing this because of market conditions and the fact we've just acquired new capacity through a merger," stated Abercrombie to local media. 60 employees will be affected at the Caledonia plant and 39 employees at the West Memphis plant.

In early 2013, Georgia-Pacific acquired four new gypsum wallboard plants when it took over Memphis-based Temple-Inland Building Products from International Paper. That deal, worth US$750m, added 1800 employees to Georgia-Pacific and 16 production facilities.

Austria: Starlinger, a technology supplier for woven plastic packaging production and plastics recycling, is opening its factory and showrooms in Weissenbach on 14 – 16 and 21 – 25 October 2013. Packaging producers and plastics recyclers will have the opportunity to see the latest models of the Starlinger machine range in operation.

Highlights on show include the new lamiTEC coating and lamination line that features roll change at full production speed and increased output, the RX 8.0 circular loom for heavy-duty fabric weaving, the conversion line ad*starKON SX+ and the newly developed linTAPE tape winders with linear drive technology for smooth winding and gentle tape treatment.

UK/Spain: Fermacell has officially opened a new 12MM2/yr gypsum fibreboard plant near Santander in Spain. The Euro30m plant is intended to target growing market demand and increase the company's supply to its European distribution network.

"Increasing market demand and additional sales potential are the main reasons for expanding the production of gypsum fibreboards and the opening of the new factory. Our international sales offices are faced with extensive utilisation of existing factories and the new Spanish plant will improve supply to the UK and other large construction markets across Europe," said Fermacell UK general manager, Gary Carter.