Gypsum industry news

China: China National Building Material (CNBM) expects its profit to decline by 50% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2022. The group said that this will be due in part to reduced gypsum wallboard sales and a 'substantial' decline in the value of its financial assets.

UK: Knauf UK has announced a collaboration with Modulous, a company that supplies technology products to support offsite construction. The light building materials producer has become a supply chain partner with Modulous. It also gave Modulous space at its Sittingbourne headquarters site to build a demonstration module, which was completed at the end of 2021.

Liam Poole, the head of marketing at Knauf UK, said, “We came on board as an early supply-chain partner because Modulous has built an inspired solution to some of the biggest pain points in construction and development.”

Modulous is marketing a set of digital products that connect manufacturers, designers and clients in the construction sector. It claims it is an efficient way to develop residential buildings at speed and scale. The company offers a virtual design for any building, complete with product selections and assembly instructions, which contractors can then use to build modules and assemble them on site. Modulous uses a so-called ‘kit of parts’ to help contractors assemble the modules. Knauf’s contribution towards this includes products such as floors, external walls, interior partitioning systems and spray finishes.

Germany: The German Professional Association of Geoscientists (BGD), the German Gypsum Association (GIPS) and Knauf Gips have held a christening ceremony for gypsum’s status as ‘rock of the year’ at Iphofen. At the event a freshly mined gypsum stone was ceremoniously unveiled. Speeches were also given by Manuel Lapp from the Saxony State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology, Holger Ortleb of GIPS, Andreas von Heßberg from the University of Bayreuth and Marco Pabstmann from Knauf. Music was provided by the Knauf miners’ band. Over 80 guests were in attendance. Since 2007 the BGD has chosen a different rock each year to promote to the general public.

New Zealand: Members of the building sector report that a local shortage in gypsum wallboard has started to ease. Christchurch-based Co-operative Building Supplies chair Carl Taylor told Radio New Zealand News, that since Winstone Wallboards announced a number of corrective measures in June 2022, supply had improved a "fair bit" but it was not back to levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic started. Rick Herd, the chief executive officer of building company Naylor Love, added that Winstone Wallboards had increased its production but that a reduction in market demand had also helped.

In late September 2022, Winstone Wallboards’ general manager David Thomas thanked his customers for their patience. He added that the company was getting closer to levelling up supply with demand for wallboard across the country. Parent company Fletcher Building Materials previously said that it expected the market to stabilise by October 2022. Winstone Wallboards’ GIB product range is the main brand of wallboard used in New Zealand. The company is reported to hold around a 95% share of the local market.

Saudi Arabia: Eight companies have been accepted by the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources to offer bids for an exploration license for gypsum ore at the Al-Qasab wells mining site. The preferential bidders include Saudi National Gypsum, El-Khayyat Gypsum, United Cement Industrial, Global Gypsum Company, United Mining Industries, Mada Gypsum and ASK Gypsum, according to the Arab News newspaper. The proposed site is located south of Nabat in Al Madinah province. The initiative is part of the government’s plans to further develop the country’s mining sector.