Gypsum industry news

Canada/US: Saint-Gobain has acquired exterior building materials company Kaycan for US$928m. After the closing of the transaction in 2022, Kaycan’s US distribution arm will undergo divestiture to a third party. Kaycan currently employs 1300 people at 12 sites in Canada and the US. Saint-Gobain noted that the acquisition will complement its leadership in Canada, expanding its light and sustainable construction solutions offering in that market.

Portugal: Saint-Gobain has acquired Fibroplac, which operates the 10Mm²/yr Pombal gypsum wallboard plant in Central Portugal. Saint-Gobain already operates 10 plants, in addition to a research and development centre, in Portugal. Additionally, the France-based group acquired steel structures producer Falper.

The group said that the acquisitions align with its Grow & Impact strategy, which it says is being successfully implemented in Portugal."

France: Saint-Gobain says that it is confident it can offset inflation in raw material and energy costs in 2022 through price rises and hedging its energy costs. In an update on its first quarter results the group said that it expects its energy and raw material costs to increase by around Euro2.5bn in 2022 as a whole compared to 2021. Much of this inflation is related to the European market where the company says it has hedged around 80% of its natural gas and electricity purchases for 2022. It noted that it increased its prices and sales volumes by 14.5% and 1.9% year-on-year respectively in the first quarter of 2022.

The company added it had prepared contingency plans in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic should there be any disruptions to natural gas supplies from Russia. These include the classification of priority industries, using alternative energy sources already prepared at certain sites, and increasing the flexibility of its production capacities.

Saint-Gobain’s sales rose by 16% year-on-year to Euro10.4bn in the first quarter of 2022 from Euro12bn in the same period in 2021. The group said growth was driven by building renovation in Europe and by construction in the Americas and in Asia.

Turkey: France-based Saint-Gobain and building materials producer Dalsan have signed a joint-venture agreement, pursuant to which they will merge their gypsum wallboard operations in Turkey. The merge will give the new joint venture a gypsum wallboard production capacity of over 100Mm²/yr. It will also see the companies’ plaster production consolidated under their new subsidiary.

The partners said “This partnership will offer Turkish customers access to the most innovative and complete portfolio of light and sustainable solutions for the construction and renovation of the building envelope, as well as internal partitioning.”

France: Placo and Serfim Recyclage have revealed that they started operating a new 140t/day plaster recycling plant at Quincy-Voisins near Paris in October 2021. The companies say that the Pari Plâtre site is the first in the Paris region to be solely used for recycling plaster waste from construction sites.

Daily deliveries via the Placo Recycling network bring plaster waste from within a 250km radius to the site. The waste is then sorted by hand along an 80m production line to remove wood, ceramic, cardboard and polystyrene fractions. These materials are recycled separately. The plaster is crushed and screened with a 98% recovery rate. The plant stores reclaimed gypsum in two 80m³ silos. The gypsum is then transported to Placo’s gypsum wallboard plant at Vaujours for use as a secondary raw material.

Placo says it is the leading recycler of gypsum in France. Following the opening of Pari Plâtre the company has increased its plaster recycling target in 2030 target to 200,000t/yr. This will allow the subsidiary of Saint-Gobain to use up to 30% of recycled materials in the production of its wallboard products.

Canada: Saint-Gobain has shared plans to install a US$3.19m waste heat recovery (WHR) system at its Vancouver gypsum wallboard plant in British Columbia. It has secured US$1.12m in funding from the provincial government’s CleanBC Industry Fund for the project. The producer says that the installation will increase the plant’s energy efficiency and reduce its CO₂ emission by 10%.

Saint-Gobain said “This project will help our company to maximise our positive impact for our customers and the communities where we do business, while minimising our environmental footprint. We thank the CleanBC programme for its support, and look forward to many more years of sustainable, state-of-the-art manufacturing in Vancouver.”

Canada/US: Saint-Gobain North America and its subsidiary CertainTeed say they have reduced their CO₂ emissions from electricity usage by about a third in 2021 through the use of renewable energy contracts. In February 2020, Saint-Gobain entered into a 12-year virtual power purchase agreement with the Blooming Grove Wind Farm in McLean County, Illinois. At the time, the agreement was the largest renewable energy deal in Saint-Gobain’s 356-year history. Saint-Gobain worked with Edison Energy, an industrial energy advisor, on the arrangement.

“We’re thrilled with the results of our partnership with the Blooming Grove Wind Farm, and will continue to look for ways to maximise our positive impact, for our customers and the communities where we do business, while minimising our environmental footprint,” said Mark Rayfield, the chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain North America and CertainTeed. “In this next chapter of our company’s history, our team will strive to lead our industry towards a more sustainable future.”

France: Saint-Gobain’s sales grew by 15.8% year-on-year to Euro44.2bn in 2021 from Euro38.1bn in 2020. Its earnings before taxation, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) rose by 41% to Euro6.20bn from Euro4.42bn. Sales and earnings increased by 4% and 27% compared to 2019 levels before the coronavirus pandemic started. Sales revenue and operation income was reported up in all geographical regions. In North America the group noted that the integration of Continental Building Products had boosted its position in the US gypsum wallboard market and helped it to tap new sales channels.

“The records achieved in 2021 confirm that the group has entered a new post-transformation trajectory in terms of performance: market-beating sales growth, record earnings and margins, a high level of free cash flow generation that has more than doubled compared to previous years, and strong value creation for our shareholders thanks to strict capital allocation and the determined execution of our portfolio optimisation,” said Benoit Bazin, the chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain.

The group completed or signed 37 acquisitions in 2021, including Chryso and GCP Applied Technologies (GCP), marking its rapid expansion into the construction chemicals market. In November 2021 On November 15, 2021, Saint-Gobain said that it had acquired a gypsum plant in Nairobi, Kenya. It will be the company’s first production site in Kenya, where it will also invest in a construction chemicals production line.

France: Workers at Placoplâtre’s gypsum quarry in Baillet-en-France near Paris went on strike in late January 2022 following a breakdown in negotiations with management. The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union has cited disagreements over changes to shift patterns, safety concerns and poor equipment, according to the Le Parisien newspaper. Placoplâtre responded that discussions are ongoing. A worker died at the mine in 2019 when a gallery roof collapsed.

Brazil: Saint Gobain has predicted a 40% year-on-year turnover increase from its Brazilian operations to US$2.63bn in 2021. It said that it expects demand for its products from civil construction to have accounted for 67% of its income for the year.

In 2021, Saint-Gobain invested a total of US$52.6m in its Brazilian operations, consisting of 56 sites. It aims to increase its total income by 15% in 2022 compared to 2021 levels. During the year, it plans to commission a new gypsum wallboard plant at Mogi das Cruzes in São Paulo.