Bosnia & Herzegovina: The shareholders assembly of state-owned power company RiTE Ugljevik has approved the signing of contracts for the sale of gypsum and coal with Beijing New Building Materials (BNBM) Ugljevik. The project intends to build a 40Mm²/yr gypsum wallboard plant and it has a budget of Euro50m, according to the Sarajevo Times. RiTE Ugljevik previously agreed to supply 250,000t/yr of flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) to the proposed wallboard plant.

US: Eagle Materials reported sales of US$2.1bn in 2022, up by 15% year-on-year from 2021 levels. The producer's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 19% to US$782m. Its light materials sales, including gypsum wallboard, rose by 22% to US$981m. Sales volumes of gypsum wallboard rose by 4% to 87.8Mm³, while it raised prices by 17% to US$8.46/m³.

President and CEO Michael Haack said "Looking ahead, we anticipate continued attractive fundamentals in our markets, despite headwinds relating to higher interest rates and affordability constraints in single-family residential construction. Among the favourable demand factors we expect will affect our results in future periods are projected funding increases for infrastructure projects and healthy demand for heavy industrial projects and multi-family residential construction. We remain well-positioned to capitalise on these conditions, given our geographical footprint across the (Central) US Heartland and fast-growing Sun Belt (Southern US) and our financial strength and flexibility."

India: Saint-Gobain has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Vibrant Energy, a subsidiary of Macquarie Asset Management's Green Investment Group (MAM-GIG), to provide wind and solar electricity to six local sites. The 20-year PPA will start in 2024 and bring the company’s national renewable electricity share to 65% in 2025. Under the agreement, Vibrant Energy will provide Saint-Gobain with 189GWhr/yr of renewable electricity. The company says that it is on target to achieve 100% renewable electricity in India by 2030 by replacing fossil fuels with biomass, using waste heat recovery and other measures.

Saint-Gobain India operates 76 manufacturing plants in the country including four gypsum wallboard units.

Canada: USG Corporation subsidiary Canadian Gypsum Company (CGC) plants to restart operations at its 2Mt/yr-capacity Little Narrows gypsum quarry in Nova Scotia. Construction Canada News has reported that the company expects the commissioning to take until early-mid 2026. Work includes the construction of a new crusher and conveyor systems, as well as a dock and ship loader, and the purchase of new mining equipment, including drills, loaders, excavators and haul trucks. When operational, the quarry will ship gypsum to markets along the east coast of North America, including Montréal, Québec.

USG Corporation CEO Chris Griffin said “This investment will cement our long-term commitment to the Canadian market and our dedication to providing the best experience for our customers across North America. CGC has a proud history of operations at the Little Narrows gypsum quarry, which was active from 1954 to 2016. We are deeply connected to Little Narrows and Cape Breton, and thrilled to return to drive economic growth and support the local community as a neighbour and partner.”