Gypsum industry news

Spain: The Port of Motril in Granada has resumed exporting gypsum from quarries in the province. A load of around 43,000t was despatched on the Desert Grace bulk carrier. Gypsum consignments from Motril started in late 2019 with two test shipments. The port hopes to export up to 0.4Mt/yr of raw gypsum.

US: GMS’ net sales from its wallboard products rose by 5% year-on-year to US$1.33bn in the financial year to 30 April 2020 from US$1.27bn in the same period in 2019. Its overall sales grew by 4% to US$3.24bn from US$3.12bn. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased slightly to US$300m. Wallboard sales were stable in the fourth quarter of its reporting year as coronavrius-related market declines in late March and April 2020 caused total company sales to decrease in the period.

“Through mid-March 2020 we experienced favourable end-market trends and generated robust volume growth. Even as disruptions from COVID-19 began to escalate in the second half of March 2020, construction and building products distribution were deemed essential in the majority of our markets, which enabled us to keep most of our locations open. However, demand weakened significantly in late March 2020 and in April 2020 as customers delayed orders and building projects were paused due to mandated shutdowns in certain markets or as they focused on responding to the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses,” said John C Turner, Jr, president and chief executive officer of GMS.

US: American Gypsum has been chosen as a featured manufacturer with BSD SpecLink, a specification database designed to help architects hasten editing tasks and reduce specification production time. The gypsum wallboard producer recently added their products and specifications to the SpecLink system to make it easier for architects to incorporate American Gypsum products into their projects.

US: CatchMark Timber Trust and its Triple T joint venture have amended their wood supply agreement with Georgia-Pacific to achieve “market-based pricing on timber sales.” Under the amended deal, Triple T also will be able to increase reimbursement for extended haul distances, sell timber to other third parties and expand its ability to sell large timberland parcels to third party buyers. The supply agreement between Triple T and Georgia-Pacific has also been extended by two years from 2029 to 2031, with optimised harvest volume obligations to enhance and preserve long-term asset value. Triple T has paid Georgia-Pacific US$145m to make these changes.

CatchMark invests in 1.1 million acres of East Texas timberlands through Triple T and acts as the general partner of the venture on behalf of a consortium of institutional investors. Georgia-Pacific produces paper-based consumer products and building materials, including gypsum wallboard.

Oman: The Ministry of Municipalities and Regional Resources says that commercial and industrial activities including gypsum manufacturing and installation can re-start operating following a coronavirus-related lockdown. The latest group of activities cleared to reopen covers over 50 commercial and industrial activities, according to the Times of Oman newspaper. The government initially implemented a lockdown in Muscat in early April 2020.