Gypsum industry news

Kazakhstan: Zhambylgypsum plans to start a gypsum production line in the Zhambyl region by the end of 2015, according to the ADM Kazakhstan Capital Restructuring Fund.

"This will be the first such facility in the post-Soviet era. The plant will produce 600t/day of gypsum and 15m3/hr of fluff perlite, 7t/hr of calcite flour and 30t/hr of dry mortar," said Zhambylgypsum head Kaynarbek Kusayynov.

ADM Kazakhstan Capital Restructuring Fund, part of Kazyna Capital Management, provided funds for the project, in particular for the expansion of production capacities and purchase of gypsum calcination equipment. ADM KCRF was set up in 2010 with capital standing at US$100m. Its main investors are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and JSC Kazyna Capital Management.

Russia: Saint-Gobain has started production at its first wallboard plant in Russia. Pierre-André de Chalendar, chairman and CEO of Saint-Gobain, officially opened the plant, located near Gomzovo in the Nizhny Novgorod region, on 10 July 2013. The new Euro70m plant, which also contains a gypsum quarry, has a workforce of 87 employees.

"The start-up of this new plant is an important step in the group's development within the Russian habitat and construction markets," said de Chalendar. "With its unique portfolio of products and solutions, Saint-Gobain serves rapidly-growing construction markets worldwide. Russia's climate, its rising purchasing power and pressing need for housing means that it's a country with great potential for the group."

Russia: Matanat-A, the Azerbaijani building materials producer, has re-registered land in Uspensk district of Krasnodar region of the Russian Federation intended for a industrial complex including a gypsum wallboard plant. Company president Elkhan Bashirov said that they Matanat-A is continuing negotiations with the district administration about the start of construction.

"The point is that the purchased land is registered as agricultural land. In this respect we submitted the documents for re-registration of land for industrial work," said Bashirov.

The agreement to build the complex has originally signed on 16 September 2011 at the Jubilee X Investment Forum in Sochi. The plans consist of five plants, including a gypsum wallboard plant, built on a 37 hectares plot. Matanat-A has also purchased a 78 hectare site to mine gypsum at Otradnensky in Krasnodar region. The plant build will be funded by a Euro30m investment, of which 30% comes from Matanat-A and the remaining 70% from a loan.

US: Lafarge has announced that is preparing the sale of its North American gypsum business to US private equity firm Lone Star in a deal worth an enterprise value of US$700m.

Lafarge North America's Gypsum division manufactures gypsum wallboards and joint compounds throughout a network of plants in the United States and Canada, including three US gypsum wallboard plants. In 2012, these operations generated sales of US$310m. The assets have been held for sale in the Lafarge's consolidated balance sheet since 2011.

This transaction, which is expected to close very soon, is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Global building materials producer Lafarge reduced its net debt by Euro700m in 2012 to Euro11.3bn. It sold the majority of its worldwide gypsum business – in Asia, Europe, South America and Australia – to Boral and Etex in 2011. Lafarge retains a 20% stake in the joint venture with Etex.

Oman: USG-Zawawi Group and Bank Sohar have signed a US$45m deal to set up and run a gypsum quarry and gypsum wallboard plant in the Salalah Free Zone in Oman. The plant will have a production capacity of 8MM²/yr in its first phase, with a capacity of 16MM²/yr planned in accordance with future demand.

Zawawi Minerals LLC is an Oman-based company belonging to the Qais Zawawi Group. Zawawi Minerals is engaged in exploring and trading high-quality industrial minerals and metal ores, like limestone, gypsum, dolomite and chrome ore. USG's partnership with Zawawi has established two joint venture companies: Zawawi Gypsum LLC and USG-Zawawi Drywall LLC SFZ. The first joint venture develops infrastructure and operates a gypsum quarry, while the second joint venture will build and operate the new gypsum board plant in the Salalah Free Zone.

China: Beijing New Building Materials Public Co Ltd (BNBM) has announced that it plans to invest US$58m to build three gypsum wallboard projects in China. BNBM, part of the massive state-controlled China National Building Material Co Ltd (CNBM) said that it will construct the plants to expand the domestic market for wallboard. In addition, the company will build a product development centre using a total investment of US$108m.

Romania: Siniat Romania has said that construction works on a Euro50m wallboard plant in Turceni in southwestern Romania will start in June 2013. The plant was originally scheduled to start construction in March 2013.

The project is entirely financed by Siniat's parent company, Belgium's Etex group. Production at the new plant is scheduled to start in March 2015. The new plant will have an initial wallboard capacity of 27Mm²/yr. Its capacity may be boosted to 50Mm² depending on market demand. Some 50-60% of its output will be exported to Balkan countries.

Siniat Romania exported some 35% of its wallboard output in 2012. The company turnover rose by 1.5% to Euro22.1m in 2012. Siniat added that its market share in Romania stood at 25% in 2012, when the local wallboard market contracted to 38Mm².

Looking forward the company plans to raise its market share on the local wallboard market, which is predicted to grow by 5% in 2013. Siniat Romania runs a wallboard plant in Bucharest.

Japan: Daiseki Eco. Solutions subsidiary Green Arrows Kyushu has opened a wallboard recycling plant in the suburbs of Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. The recycling plant will separate used and dismantled wallboard, collected from construction sites, into plaster powder and paper for sale to wallboard and paper manufacturers, respectively. The plant will begin with 15,000t/yr of processing capacity, which will be raised to 36,000t/yr.

Daiseki entered the wallboard-recycling business in 2009 through a subsidiary named Green Arrows Central, based in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture. Its Tokai plant currently recycles 30,000t/yr of used wallboard from the local area.

Indonesia: Saint-Gobain has announced that it will soon start building a 30Mm2/yr plasterboard plant near Jakarta. The project is estimated at Euro35m and it is the building materials manufacturer's first wallboard plant in Indonesia. It is intended to strengthen Saint-Gobain Gypsum's presence in Southeast Asia, where it currently operates four plants in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

US: United States Gypsum (USG) has applied for a permit to withdraw up to 2.11 million litres/day of water for a gypsum plant near Crystal River in Florida. However, company spokesman Robert Williams said that the plant is not planned in the immediate future.

USG's permit application is pending with the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The district has sent USG a letter seeking more information to make sure that the planned withdrawals won't cause salt-water intrusion or otherwise harm the groundwater.

In 2011 USG purchased 72 hectares near the Progress Energy Florida power complex north of Crystal River to warehouse synthetic gypsum that is created by scrubbers at the coal-burning plants. Progress, whose parent company is Duke Energy, has a contract to sell the gypsum to USG, which is planning to build a warehouse sometime in 2013 to store the product until it is shipped to a wallboard manufacturer.

"USG proposes to construct a state-of-the art facility that is projected to bring 130 new jobs to the area and will incorporate water conservation to the greatest extent feasible," the company's consultant, Progressive Water Resources, wrote in its application letter to the water district. The letter requests a 20-year permit and states it is still negotiating for easements to the well sites and a pipeline that would transport water from the well to the manufacturing centre.