Gypsum industry news

Peru: Eternit Perú plans to spend around US$8.7m towards security, technology and plant productivity by 2020. Over half of this investment, US$4.4m, will be spent in 2017, according to the El Comercio newspaper. The building materials producer intends to double its gypsum wallboard business by 2020 and it has started a new marketing campaign to support this aim. It has recently won a government tender to build 2600 temporary homes using its wallboard system and it also plans to start exporting products to New Zealand in the short term.

Chile: Knauf has acquired Novochile for an undisclosed amount. The purchase includes a 10Mm²/yr gypsum wallboard plant in La Serana and gypsum mineral reserves. The plant supplies central and northern Chile and it will compliment Knauf's plant in Argentina. It will be the seventh that it operates in Latin America.

Canada: The government has opened its Drywall Support Program for applications until the end of May 2017. This program provides drywall contractors and builders in Western and Northern Canada with compensation for elevated drywall costs due to anti-dumping duties imposed on imported drywall from the US, according to Canadian Newswire. The initiative is also intended to homeowners in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by the 2016 wildfires and are now facing higher rebuilding costs. The US$9m scheme will be administered by Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

US: The Gypsum Association has elected Timothy Power as the chair of its board of directors. Power is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Continental Building Products. Other appointments that have been elected include Georgia Pacific's Charles R Harrison as the vice-chair of the board, USG's Albert R Zucco as the treasurer and the Gypsum Association's Stephen H Meima as the secretary. American Gypsum Company's Peter Bauser is the past chair of the board. Officers were elected at the recent meeting of the Association's board of directors in Albuquerque, New Mexico. All terms are for one year and are effective from 1 May 2017.

US: Thomas Kinisky has been appointed as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Saint-Gobain Corporation, Saint-Gobain's holding company in North America. He has also been appointed as the Senior Vice President for Saint-Gobain and is a member of the company's Global Management Committee. Kinisky assumed the position earlier in 2017 when he succeeded John Crowe. Crowe was also the president and CEO of Saint-Gobain's subsidiary CertainTeed. He has been succeeded in these roles by Benoit Bazin, who will also continue to serve as the global President of the Construction Products Sector and Senior Vice President for Saint-Gobain.

Kinisky joined Norton Company in 1989 before its acquisition by Saint-Gobain in 1990. He spent over a decade working in research and development in various roles, including Vice President of Technology and New Business Development for the company's Abrasives Division, before assuming the role as president for Saint-Gobain Crystals in 2002 and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics in 2008.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Pace University and a Master of Science in materials science from New York University (Polytechnic University). He has authored technical publications and holds five US patents.