Gypsum industry news

Bulgaria: Bulgarian gypsum producer Gips has announced that its consolidated loss widened by 33% to Euro1.6m in January - September 2014. Consolidated revenues decreased by 5.0% year-on-year to Euro2.45m in the first nine months of 2014. Its operating loss widened to Euro431,239 during the period, from Euro88,500 in 2013.

India: FRBPL, a joint venture of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Limited (RCF), has launched the world's largest load-bearing gypsum wallboard panels, which measure 12m x 3m and 124mm thick. The panels are lightweight and waterproof. According to Ananth Kumar, the Union minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, the panels could revolutionise India's infrastructure sector.

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.

Peru/Chile: Chilean building materials importer and trader Novochile plans to export to Peru. The company recently opened a 16Mm²/yr capacity gypsum wallboard and timber boards plant in Chile.

Australia/New Zealand: The Australian and New Zealand chiefs of Knauf's wallboard operations have resigned. Additionally, the New Zealand business is under review, having posted a loss in its first nine months of operations.

The head of the New Zealand wallboard unit, John Russ, has confirmed to local media that he has resigned and will leave the company in two weeks. Meanwhile Mark Norris, managing director of Knauf Plasterboard in Australia, resigned with immediate effect on 6 November 2014.

Knauf has struggled to gain traction in the New Zealand building market, which is dominated by Fletcher Building and it took Knauf longer than expected to gain approval for its products from BRANZ, a local independent research and testing institute, before it could start to sell to consumers. Even then, the company said that it faced resistance getting its products into stores, which had established relationships with Fletcher.

Indonesia: Saint-Gobain has inaugurated its first wallboard plant in Indonesia, near Jakarta. With a production capacity of 30Mm², the new plant will enable Saint-Gobain to respond better to local demand and continue the group's growth on the rapidly-growing Indonesian wallboard market. Saint-Gobain has four other plants in south-east Asia, in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

US: Eagle Materials has reported its financial results for the second quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended 30 September 2014. Second quarter earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) increased by 24% year-on-year to US$78.5m, as both second quarter sales volumes and sales prices improved in nearly all businesses.

As previously announced on 17 October 2014, Eagle entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CRS Proppants and its subsidiaries, including Great Northern Sand, an established supplier of high-quality northern white frac-sand to the energy industry. The cash purchase price of US$225m is subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The acquisition is expected to close during Eagle's third fiscal quarter, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals.

Gypsum wallboard and paperboard reported second quarter operating earnings of US$45m, up by 22% from the same quarter of 2013. Improved wallboard net sales prices and increased wallboard and paperboard sales volumes were the primary drivers of the quarterly earnings increase. Wallboard and paperboard revenues for the second quarter totalled US$133m, an 11% increase from the same quarter of 2013. The revenue increase reflects higher average wallboard net sales prices and higher wallboard and paperboard sales volumes. Wallboard sales volumes for the quarter of 567Mft² are 2% higher than the same quarter of 2013.

UK/Belgium: Siniat has boosted its sales of its premium thermal wallboard by 56% year-on-year with a marketing campaign. Taxi Studio, a creative firm in Bristol, UK, devised a campaign to extol the benefits of using the premium thermal wallboard to persuade merchants, builders and homeowners to trade up from using a standard thermal wallboard to Siniat's premium offering.

Siniat's marketing and communications manager Fiona O' Callaghan said that the decision to bring in people with more expertise has paid off: "We had no experience of executing a national marketing campaign and the benefits of the thermal plasterboard are complex ones to communicate," she said. "What's more, having recently rebranded there was very little knowledge of the Siniat brand. Taxi Studio managed to devise a campaign that dealt with all aspects as well as creating a real internal buzz around the company. We're absolutely delighted with the results and the creativity of the campaign has really opened our eyes."

US: USG Sheetrock® Brand UltraLight Gypsum Base Imperial is now being manufactured at six USG plants. The panel is the sixth product in USG's lightweight wallboard portfolio and will be available at retail, specialty dealer and pro-dealer distributors nationwide in September 2014. The launch extends USG's position as the industry's leader in lightweight innovation. The gypsum base panel is used when a project calls for a plaster veneer finish, and is up to 30% lighter than the current ½inch USG Imperial® Gypsum Base panel. The traditional panel will be discontinued upon the launch of the new panel.

Uzbekistan: JSC Uzstroymateriali's building materials exports made US$42.9m in the first six months of 2014, which is 15.5% more compared to the same period of 2013. Enterprises of the company have increased their production by 4.5% for the reporting period.

Cement production grew by 4.9%, gypsum by 10.7%, dry construction mixes by 32%, gypsum boards by 2.9% and ceramic tiles by 10.1%. The total amount of capital investments of the largest enterprises of Uzstroymateriali amounted to US$18.3m, a 371% year-on-year increase.