Gypsum industry news

China: The Ministry of Justice has returned a lawsuit in which thousands of US homeowners say a 'cabinet-level' agency should pay for damage to their homes from alleged defective wallboard made in China. The ministry says it won't serve the legal papers because the agency is immune to such lawsuits and the legal service would infringe upon China's sovereignty.

US District Judge Eldon Fallon has ruled that Taishan Gypsum Company must pay for damages from the wallboard it made. The judge is considering damages for up to 4000 homeowners in six states. The brief letter from Beijing became part of the court record this week, about 21 months after lawyers for the homeowners sued the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which oversees 117 state-owned companies. It was dated 8 April 2016.

Fallon ruled in 2010 that Taishan's wallboard emitted sulphur gas that damaged the homes of seven 'bellwether' plaintiffs from Virginia, making occupants ill, corroding copper, silver and other metals, damaging appliances and electronics, and stinking up the houses so they were "hard if not impossible to live in." The other states involved in the lawsuit include Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, according to Associated Press.

US: CertainTeed has launched its new Habito wallboard, which it says is the strongest and hardest 1/2-inch (12.5mm) wallboard on the market.

Dave Engelhardt, President of CertainTeed Gypsum, said that the product helps eliminate the frustration homeowners have when hanging heavy objects as Habito can hold heavy objects without involving anchors or wall studs.

"Habito continues our emphasis on providing innovative products that offer practical solutions to builders and homeowners," said Engelhardt. The manufacturer pointed to the following features:

• Fastening capability: Fixing capabilities that eliminate the need for threaded wallboard anchors or nailing to wall studs for fixtures under 13.6kg.
• Builder and developer upgrades: Offers professionals an upmarket option, replacing standard wallboard in high-traffic and high-impact areas of the home.
• Better acoustics: Delivers homeowners better sound insulation than traditional wallboard.

UK: Wastecycle's recycling facility in Colwick, Nottinghamshire is now one of the largest in the UK after an expansion of the site. By acquiring seven acres of property, which the company previously leased, and buying an additional four acres, Wastecycle has extended its site to nearly 20 acres.

"It's an exciting time for us because this expansion provides us with the platform we need to reach the next stage of growth as a company," said Financial Director Nathan Cole. "Over the long term, we plan to use the additional land to expand our extensive recycling and resource management activities. This will help us broaden the services we offer our customers while improving the quality and sustainability of the recycled products we manufacture."

The company has also completed an expansion of its main office to accommodate its growing workforce. After a 20% growth in staff 2015, it now employs almost 300 people across its Colwick site and its two sites in Leicestershire. "Ensuring our teams are comfortable in their working environments is very important to us because, not only does it increase productivity, but it also creates positive morale," said Cole. "Larger premises also provide the opportunity to open up new jobs, while improving the quality of service we can provide to customers."

Wastecycle separates 500,000t/yr of waste, including 18,000t/yr of recycling from 126,131 homes in the Nottingham City Council area. Some of the waste is turned into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use at cement plants. It also sorts through the rubbish of thousands of businesses across Nottinghamshire, runs a skip hire service and operates a wallboard recycling facility, which it developed with British Gypsum.

In 2014, Wastecycle's turnover increased to Euro42.8m from Euro35.9m in 2013. In 2015, it won four awards, including a bronze environmental best practice accolade at the Green Apple Awards in November 2015. It was recognised for the success of its wallboard recycling scheme, which has prevented more than 30,000t/yr of wallboard from reaching landfill.

Egypt: National Cement plans to add a new gypsum wallboard production line for US$1.24m, according to the company's Chairman. It has also decided to resume operations at its brick factory.

Oman: USG Boral Middle East has started manufacturing its Sheetrock wallboard brand and wall solutions at its production unit in Salalah, Oman.

The local production will cater to its customers in the Gulf and the wider Middle East region. USG Boral Zawawi Drywall is the first to produce the Sheetrock brand in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

"Here in the Gulf region and around the world, our focus is on delivering innovation that helps our customers work smarter, do more and build better projects," said Fares Saghbini, the Managing Director at USG Boral Middle East. "That is exactly what the launch of our locally-produced Sheetrock brand wallboard products in the GCC enables us to do. We are delighted to bring our manufacturing facility and premium products closer to our customers without compromising on quality, dependability and, most importantly, the safety standards upon which Sheetrock's reputation has been built."

USG's Sheetrock production line in Oman has been fully certified by UL to produce fire rated products and will continue to undergo quarterly inspections according to UL's standards testing for quality, uniformity and safety including fire resistance.

Asia: USG has expanded its business in the Asian region with a joint venture with Australia's Boral to strengthen its foothold in the wallboard market.

"Korea is our second-largest market and is one of the big elephants along with Australia, Thailand and Indonesia," said James Metcalf, USG President and CEO.

USG Boral, a 50-50 joint venture formed in 2014, entered the building materials business with sales and operations across Asia, Australasia and the Middle East with a goal to grow earnings from the regions and to transform the business over the longer term through its product and manufacturing solutions, which include ceilings, cement board, fibreboard and lightweight wallboard.

Metcalf said that USG Boral has a five-year capital plan of investment in the areas and facility expansion, as well as transfer of technological know-how. He declined to disclose the exact amount of investment, citing confidentiality. "With strong GDP growth, Asian countries' adoption rate is expected to increase. The critical mass happening in Korea and the rest of Asian countries will continue to round out our portfolio," said Metcalf.

Metcalf said that the marriage between USG's building supply technologies and Boral's wallboard distribution footprint in the Asian and Australian markets is expected to create greater synergies in the next decade. "I wouldn't be surprised if this part of the business becomes larger than what we have in North America in the next 10 years," he said.

Georgia/Azerbaijan: The value of imported construction materials from Azerbaijan to Georgia fell by 50% from January 2015 to September 2015, according to a report issued by the National Statistics Office of Georgia.

The country imported 64,870t of gypsum plaster and other anhydrites worth a total of US$8.7m from Azerbaijan during the period. Further, the volume of imported construction materials from Azerbaijan to Georgia decreased by 39.7% compared to the same period in 2014. Officials noted that Georgia imported 107,630t of construction materials, worth US$18.5m, from Azerbaijan during the period. Construction materials accounted for 2.2% of the total volume of Azerbaijani exports to Georgia in the first nine months of 2015. In total, Georgia imported US$392m in products from Azerbaijan in January 2015 – September 2015, or 13.7% less than in the same period in 2014.

Belarus: Construction of a new gypsum plant in Hatava near Minsk started on 7 October 2015. The project is financed by Russia's Volma Corporation, which acquired the Belarusian government's 99.5% stake in AAT Belhips, a Minsk-based manufacturer of gypsum products, for Euro4.65m in 2014. In 2014, Volma Corporation also signed an agreement whereby it would provide a total of Euro45.5m for the modernisation of the Belhips plant and the construction of a new gypsum plant.

Volma Corporation chose Belarus as the place for its new plant because of the country's 'stability and open economy,' according to Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Anatol Kalinin. According to him, the future plant, which is expected to be completed in less than two and a half years, will provide a boost to the Belarusian economy and contribute to Volma's development as well. The plant will manufacture 30Mm²/yr of wallboard, 500,000Mm³/yr of gypsum blocks and 100,000t/yr of dry building mixes. Most of the output will be exported to western Europe when operations start in 2018. The new plant is expected to create at least 180 new jobs.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Volma Company Yuri Goncharov stressed that the construction of a new plant is not a simple project from an economic point of view. "It is not the best time for return on investment. However, looking into the future we understand that the Belarusian construction sector has big potential," said Goncharov. "These are big capacities. Today, Belarus consumes 12Mm2/yr of gypsum. Our main objective is to prove to the Belarusian construction industry that gypsum materials are more efficient in terms of energy performance, environmental friendliness and economy."

Belarusian First Deputy Construction Minister Alyaksandr Kruchanaw described the project as very important for Belarus' construction sector. "It is important for Minsk as well because it is part of efforts to remove industrial facilities from the capital city, which will improve the environment in the city," said Kruchanaw.

UK: Waste management firm Wastecycle has been given an award for its wallboard recycling scheme. The company won a Green Apple Environment Award, which recognises environmental best practice in companies, for its scheme offering a national collection and recycling service. Through its partnership with wallboard manufacturer British Gypsum, Wastecycle prevents 30,000t/yr of wallboard material from reaching landfill.

Representatives of Wastecycle will go to the Houses of Parliament on 16 November 2015 to find out if their award is bronze, silver or gold. Paul Clements, Commercial Director of Wastecycle, said, "We're delighted to have been awarded a Green Apple Environment Award. There were more than 500 entries, so to be a winner is a real honour."

UK: The Carbon Trust has awarded Knauf UK the Carbon Trust Standard for Carbon in recognition of its success in reducing its carbon emissions. The Carbon Trust is the world's leading independent certification organisation and the award is a step forward for the gypsum industry as a whole.

"We're particularly proud to have achieved the Carbon Trust Standard because it reflects the company's commitment to sustainability throughout its operations," said Lorna Stork, Knauf UK's sustainability manager. "We manufacture products that are energy-intensive to produce, so this achievement not only owes a lot to improvements at factory level, but also shows that we believe in managing carbon and energy use in other areas."

Knauf has re-formulated the composition of its wallboard to reduce water content and the energy consumption required to dry them. The result is that, across the company, the average board weight has fallen by 2% over the past five years, leading to a cut in energy consumption of over 5%. Knauf has also achieved considerable energy savings in the drying process. 10GWh of gas were saved at the company's Kent facility and a further 2.8GWh at its Hull plant. These savings have been reinforced with other initiatives, including the implementation of ISO 50001, energy targets for board production, monitoring programmes and sourcing lower moisture raw materials.

Knauf has also examined other elements of its business in terms of carbon use, including handling and distribution. There have been marked improvements in Knauf's own energy consumption by forklifts and other site vehicles due to monitoring of fuel usage and training staff on how to operate the plant and equipment optimally.

"Knauf's attitude towards carbon reduction is commendable and the company's efforts have led to a significant reduction of over 5%. The company is an example of what can be achieved going beyond business-as-usual and innovating to improve your environmental impact," said Darran Messem, managing director of certification at the Carbon Trust. "Achieving the Carbon Trust Standard is one thing, but keeping it is a constant task, not one that is achieved by a single initiative. As a company, we are committed to that aim and to everything that it implies."