Gypsum industry news

US: Eagle Materials grew its sales in the first half of the 2025 financial year, which began on 1 April 2024, by 0.7% year-on-year. This resulted in revenues of US$1.23bn for the six-month period. The company’s earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) also rose, by 1.5% year-on-year to US$378m. Its gypsum wallboard segment generated revenues of US$433m, up by 1%, with 1% growth in volumes, to 140Mm².

President and CEO Michael Haack said “Eagle’s portfolio of businesses continued to perform well, despite ongoing adverse weather during the second quarter of the present financial year. We used our strong cashflow to continue advancing our long-term growth and value-creation strategies. We remain optimistic about our near-term and future opportunities and confident in our ability to execute on them. The current economic environment is constructive for our businesses. Employment is strong, recent inflation data should support a more accommodative monetary environment, spending from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is still in the beginning phases and housing supply remains chronically short because of decade-long production deficits.”

US: GMS recorded first-quarter sales of US$1.4bn in the 2025 financial year, which began on 1 April 2024. This corresponds to a 3% year-on-year rise from first-quarter 2024 financial year levels. Group adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 16% to US$146m. During the reporting period, GMS increased its gypsum wallboard sales by 3%, to US$588m. It reported an overall rise in sales volumes, buoyed by 4% growth in single-family residential construction, offsetting declines in multi-family residential and commercial construction. President and CEO John Turner nonetheless announced a new US$25m/yr costs reduction programme, due to on-going ‘market pressures.’

Turner said "We continued to focus on the execution of our strategic pillars and adapting to shifting end-market demand, and are managing costs more firmly across the business. We believe the market pressures we faced this quarter will likely persist over the next several quarters, at least until the expected reduction in interest rates can positively impact demand for our products.”

US: Xeriant plans to build plants to produce its NexBoard alternative wallboard panels. The company says that it has secured finance and selected equipment and sites. Discussions with banks over possible tax-free green bonds are on-going.

CEO Keith Duffy said "We are looking forward to having customised manufacturing plants that can meet the market demand from homebuilders who have committed to using our wallboards."

India: Saint-Gobain India plans to grow its gypsum business as part of a new investment phase, targeting revenues of US$4.3bn across its businesses by 2032. The Hindu newspaper has reported that this represents growth by a factor of three from 2023 levels. The investment phase will include total capex of US$719 – 959m from 2021 to 2025, with ‘significant’ allocations to gypsum activities. The company had invested US$1.58bn up to the end of 2023, including acquisitions in the gypsum wallboard segment.

Asia-Pacific and India regional CEO B Santhanam said "We have made huge investments in India, and quite a lot of them were in new plants."

Azerbaijan: A delegation from Knauf met Azerbaijan’s Prime Minister Ali Asadov on 6 June 2024. Trend news has reported that the meeting covered the expansion of the parties’ collaboration, among other issues.

North America: Market research firm IMARC Group has forecast a composite annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.6% in the North American gypsum wallboard market between 2024 and 2032. It attributed the anticipated growth to rising regional levels of construction activity, amid increasing urbanisation. Additionally, it expects gypsum wallboard to remain its market share within the building materials segment, as a cost-effective, easy-to-use product for both residential and commercial construction applications.

US: Georgia-Pacific made total investments worth US$2bn throughout 2023. Major capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments include its US$325m construction of its second Sweetwater gypsum wallboard plant in Texas.

Georgia-Pacific Gypsum president David Neal said "Georgia-Pacific is keenly focused on the future and committed to innovation and meeting the needs of our customers. The two [Sweetwater gypsum wallboard plant] operations combined will supply customers and distribution partners with more than 93Mm²/yr of gypsum wallboard each year and create more than 100 new jobs. This investment strengthens Georgia-Pacific's capacity to meet growing customer needs in Texas' residential, commercial and industrial construction markets."

US: Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) show that the sale of gypsum board products fell by 5% to 1.25Bnm² in the first half of 2023, from 1.31Bnm² in the same period in 2022. The total supply of crude gypsum grew by 9% to 20.4Mt. Notably, supplies of imported and synthetic gypsum increased in the reporting period. However, the USGS noted that on a quarterly basis “...variances are often the result of differences in weather conditions, which can impede or encourage construction activities, coupled with market demands that are often driven by residential and commercial building activity. Use of uncalcined gypsum remained stable, but consumption of calcined gypsum fell by 33% to 7.86Mt, due to reduced utilisation in board products. Spain, Canada and Mexico remained the main sources of import of crude gypsum. However, imports from Türkiye more than doubled to 195,000t.

New Zealand: Fletcher Building has managed to grow its earnings for its Building Products division in its 2023 financial year despite a weakened residential market in the second half of the year, poor weather and rising input costs. It noted that “substantial cost increases were absorbed on gypsum, paper, resin and freight, partially offset by lower utility costs from the drop in electricity prices.” It combated this through cost management and ‘pricing discipline.’ Revenue from the group’s Building Products division fell slightly to US$863m in the financial year to 30 June 2023 from US$873m in the same period in 2022. However, earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 4% year-on-year to US$120m from US$115m.

Ross Taylor, the chief executive officer of Fletcher Building, said “Our US$240m investment in Winstone Wallboards GIB plasterboard manufacturing and distribution facility in Tauranga has now commenced production and will be fully operational by the end of October 2023. The new plant’s state-of-the-art technology delivers more production capacity allowing for product innovation and future growth.”

Overall the group’s revenue dropped slightly to US$5.07bn from US$5.08bn and EBIT dropped by 29% to US$298m from US$420m. The large drop in earnings was mainly attributed to additional costs allocated to the New Zealand International Convention Centre and Hobson Street Hotel project. Adjusted for significant items the group’s EBIT rose by 6% to US$477m from US$452m.

Oman: Producers and exporters despatched 9.9Mt of gypsum from Oman in 2022. The figure corresponds to year-on-year growth of 13% from 8.74Mt in 2021. The Oman Daily Observer newspaper has reported that India received 4.84Mt (49%) of Omani gypsum exports during the year. This accounts for 87% of the South Asian nation's total gypsum imports, of 5.54Mt, in 2022. The total figure shows a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% between 2009 and 2022. The market's forecast CAGR up to 2037 is 5.2%.

The Indian cement industry, which reportedly relies on the dwindling domestic stock of phosphogypsum, is anticipated an anticipated source of continued growth in demand.