Peru: Etex's Eternit aims to double Peru's demand for wallboard construction systems, having invested some US$35m in its new, modern plant on the Huarochiri industrial estate in Lima, which was inaugurated recently.

The new plant will produce 12.2Mm²/yr of wallboard. National demand for wallboard in Peru is 10Mm²/yr, although this segment is growing at an estimated annual rate of 20%/yr. Eternit is already looking at a first expansion in 2020. The company will now focus on the residential sector, where there is huge potential for growth. Consumption of wallboard systems per capita ranges between 6m² and 8m² in developed countries, compared to 2.8m² in Chile, 0.6m² in Colombia and <0.3m² in Peru. Eternit aims to double this figure by 2018 or 2019. Currently, excess wallboard production from Peru is exported to Ecuador and northern Chile, where there is higher wallboard demand.

Vietnam: Gypsum and Cement JSC (TXM) has announced that it will target US$314,772 of pre-tax profit on US$29.2m revenues and 4% dividend in 2015. It reported US$384,207 of pre-tax profit on US$28.9m revenues and 3% dividend in 2014. In 2015, TXM plans to invest in the DAP Dinh Vu plant, which manufactures artificial gypsum, and is looking for partners for a project exploiting gypsum in Laos.

Hungary: Saint-Gobain's Hungarian wallboard plant generated a revenue of Euro21.9m in 2014, according to Attila Piros, the managing director of the local Rigips unit. Saint-Gobain inaugurated the Euro30m wallboard plant, Hungary's first, in 2008. Since 2012, Rigips has boosted its use of capacity at the plant. In 2014, it used more than half of its installed production capacity.

Bulgaria: Gips has reported that it made a consolidated loss of Euro2.1m in 2014 compared to the consolidated profit of Euro0.32m it declared in 2013. Consolidated revenue rose by 0.8% year-on-year in 2014 to Euro3.17m, Gips said in its latest financial statement. Natural gypsum producer Gips was set up in 1965.