Gypsum industry news

US: USG's profit has been reduced due to rising commodity costs in both its gypsum and ceiling businesses. Its operating profit fell by 22% year-on-year to US$91m in the first quarter of 2017 from US$116m in the same period in 2016. Its net sales rose by 2.7% to US$767m from US$747m, roughly in line with its sales revenue growth in 2016 as a whole. The group reported that US gypsum wallboard volumes decreased by 4% in the quarter. Domestic wallboard manufacturing costs increased by US$16m due to rising waste paper and synthetic gypsum input costs.

"We had sound operational performance in the first quarter and we are seeing solid demand for our products," said Jennifer F Scanlon, president and chief executive officer. "I am encouraged about our prospects for the balance of the year, despite the uptick we are seeing in commodity costs."

France: Saint-Gobain has reported sales growth in all main territories in the first quarter of 2017, led by Asia and its emerging markets. Net sales for its Interior Solutions division rose by 6.2% year-on-year to Euro1.71bn in the first quarter of 2017 from Euro1.61bn in the same period of 2016. This was supported by rising prices in a 'strong cost inflation environment.' Overall the group's net sales rose by 7.6% to Euro9.14bn. Notable geographical trends included a recovery in France and a continued poor market in Brazil.

"The first quarter saw robust trading. The good momentum in sales volumes observed in 2016 continued at the start of the year in all business sectors and regions. France benefited from the recovery in new-build activity, while other Western European countries delivered further growth. North America and emerging markets had a good start to the year. The group continued to pursue its priorities, focusing particularly on sales prices amid a more inflationary backdrop," said Pierre-André de Chalendar, chairman and chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain.

Peru: Production at Eternit's gypsum wallboard plant in Lima has been disrupted by extreme weather related to the El Niño cycle. Production of the Gyplac drywall brand was affected when the district the factory is in flooded in late March 2017, according to the El Comercio, newspaper. The flooding also hit the company's logistic network.

US: CertainTeed has gained six additional Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), bringing its total number of gypsum wallboard EPDs to 12. The building materials producer started launching product specific EPDs in the drywall category in late 20115.

"CertainTeed is proud to have pioneered EPD verifications both within our drywall products and extending across CertainTeed insulation and ceilings categories. Since the beginning, we've delivered on our commitment to provide better product transparency so that our customers can make informed decisions on environmental sustainability implications at the initial stages of project development," said Dave Engelhardt, president of CertainTeed Gypsum.

CertainTeed Gypsum offers 12 product-specific Type III EPDs that include seven plants in four different product categories. The company says it is the only manufacturer to offer 'Cradle-to-Grave' EPD transparency that takes the entire development process into account. The EPDs from CertainTeed Gypsum are third-party verified by UL Environment and include information on global warming potential, embodied energy and other impacts that occur as a result of manufacturing.

The six new EPDs are available for four product groups including AirRenew, M2Tech, Easi-Lite and CertainTeed Type X. AirRenew is produced at the Moundsville plant in West Virginia and the other products are manufactured at the Montreal plant in Quebec, Canada.

Ethiopia: Habesha Cement plans to produce gypsum wallboard. In an interview with the Capitol Ethiopia newspaper Mesfin Abi, the chief executive of the company, announced plans to target the imported market locally and export wallboard also. Habesha Cement operates a 1.4Mt/yr cement plant near to Addis Ababa that is expected to start selling products locally in the coming weeks.