India: USG Boral has held a ground breaking event for a new 30Mm² gypsum wallboard plant that it is building at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. The project has an investment of US$39m. The new plant will be operated by local subsidiary USG Boral Building Products India. The site is expected to become operational by the end of 2019. It will create over 100 new jobs. It joins USG Boral’s 9Mm² wallboard plant at Khushkhera, New Delhi.

"This facility offers us the ability to significantly increase our operations in India and provide our customers in the region with the best plasterboard products," said Frederic de Rougemont, the chief executive officer (CEO) of USG Boral.

Mauritania: Mauritania exported 100,000t of gypsum in 2017 to markets in West and Central Africa. It was sent to Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the Pan African News Agency. The country produces 200,000t/yr of gypsum, of which 15% is turned into plaster. The remaining 85% is used by the local cement industry or exported by land to Mali or by sea via the Port of Nouakchott.

Spain: Saint-Gobain plans to invest Euro120m over the next three years in its local subsidiary. In an interview with the Cinco Dias newspaper, Gianni Scotti, the chief executive officer (CEO) for Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and North Africa warned against rising electricity costs in the country. The bulk of the investment will go towards upgrading the Fábrica de Quinto wallboard plant in Zaragoza.

Oman: Northern Ireland’s Telestack has won a Euro5.7m deal to supply a mobile shiploading system to the Port of Salalah. The system will be used to load gypsum, limestone, and cement clinker and will be operational later in 2018, according to the Irish News newspaper. The project is part of an on-going Euro17bn government infrastructure investment to support mining, quarrying and the cement industry. It is Telestack’s largest single order to date.