Gypsum industry news

UK: British Gypsum, part of France's Saint-Gobain group, has been crowned Manufacturer of the Year at the 2013 Building Awards. The company picked up the accolade at the construction industry event in recognition of its focus on innovation, sustainable practices and corporate social responsibility activities in the past 12 months.

The award win follows a number of key developments for British Gypsum in 2012. The manufacturer launched ground-breaking solutions and technologies such as ACTIVair, and became the first UK plaster and drylining producer to achieve a BES 6001 'very good' for a core range of products. In late 2012, British Gypsum also helped to raise over Euro120,000 in just 100 days for construction charity CRASH and Macmillan Cancer Support.

Mike Chaldecott, managing director at British Gypsum, said, "In the past year, we've focused on making key developments that have a real positive impact for our customers, so we're really proud that this has been recognised by the built environment industry at the highest level."

Saudi Arabia: National Gypsum Company has reported that its net income for the first quarter of 2013 fell year-on-year by 31.5% to US$1.72m from US$2.50m in the same period in 2012. The wallboard producer attributed the decrease in net income to increased competition.

National Gypsum Company noted that its gross profit for the first quarter of 2013 fell by 6% to US$2.25m from US$2.39m. Operational income fell by 8.84% to US$1.65m from US$1.81m

India: The Finance Ministry has imposed an anti-dumping duty on wallboard imported from China, Indonesia, Thailand and the UAE. The import tax has been declared valid for five years starting from 7 June 2012 when the provisional anti-dumping duty was first imposed. The duty excludes fire-resistant boards.

For wallboard imports from China, the duty is US$32.9/m³. For imports from Indonesia the duty is US$24.1/m³. For imports from Thailand, wallboard produced and exported by Siam Gypsum Industry (Saraburi) and Siam Gypsum Industry (Songkhla) has received a preferential rate of US$54.5/m³. All other wallboard imports from Thailand will receive a duty of US$73.8/m³. For imports from UAE produced and exported by Gypsemna Dubai the duty is US$12.3/m³. All other imports from UAE will receive a duty of US$20.2/m³.

US: James Metcalf, the CEO of United States Gypsum, received a pay rise of 31% to US$7.7m in 2012, according to figures released in the company's proxy statement.

Although Metcalf's basic salary rose by 5% to US$867,000 in 2012, other perks such as stock awards, option awards and non-equity incentive plan compensation took the total from US$5.86m in 2011 to US$7.7m in 2012.

In 2012 the US wallboard manufacturer reported a loss of US$126m, reduced from US$390m in 2011.

US: More than a dozen lawsuits alleging price-fixing on the part of major manufacturers of wallboard have been consolidated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The location was chosen as most of the parties are located in the area and a majority of the parties advocated for consolidation in that district. US District Judge Michael Baylson will handle the case.

"From at least September 2011 to the present the defendants, manufacturers of gypsum board, combined and conspired to fix and raise the prices at which they sold gypsum board in the United States beginning with large and coordinated price increases that all became effective on or about 1 or 2 January 2012," according to the complaint filed in one case originating in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Janicki Drywall versus CertainTeed.

Major manufacturers of wallboard have annual sales of more than US$5bn, according to the complaint and the defendants are seeking treble damages. The defendants in the suit account for more than 99% of wallboard sold in North America, according to the complaint. They are USG, National Gypsum, CertainTeed, Georgia-Pacific, American Gypsum, Lafarge, Temple-Inland and PABCO.

In a previous status conference for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania cases, Steven Bizar of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney was named as interim liaison counsel for the defence, while H Laddie Montague Jr of Berger & Montague had been named interim liaison counsel for the plaintiffs.