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USG-Boral will resume control of Australasian gypsum wallboard operations
Written by Global Gypsum staff
27 August 2019
Australia/US: USG-Boral will resume 100% ownership of its Australia and New Zealand gypsum wallboard operations, subject to a call option for Knauf to buy back 50% within five years.
Boral CEO Michael Kane has commended Boral’s Sheetrock brand’s substantially strengthened position by comparison to that at the time of Knauf’s US$7bn acquisition of USG in April 2019, since which time Knauf has held 50% of USG-Boral’s gypsum wallboard business in Australia and New Zealand.
Boral will continue its joint operations with Knauf across Asia, at the centre of which are USG-Boral Asia’s purchase of Knauf Asian Plasterboard for US$533m, and its sale of its Middle Eastern ventures to Knauf for US$50m.
Knauf signs gas deal with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation
Written by Global Gypsum staff
08 August 2019
Tanzania: Knauf Gypsum Tanzania has signed a five-year agreement with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) to supply gas for a gypsum plant it is building at Kisemvule, Mkuranga District. The arrangement will started at the end of 2020, according to the Daily News newspaper. Commissioning at the plant is expected to start at the end of August 2019.
Gypsum Resources files for bankruptcy
Written by Global Gypsum staff
06 August 2019
US: Gypsum Resources has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the Nevada US Bankruptcy Court. It is aiming to reorganise the business amid financial and operational difficulties, according to the Las Vegas Reiew Journal newspaper. The company operates a gypum mine at Blue Diamond Hill but it has been trying to develop a residential housing project at the site for over a decade. The development has been opposed by local environmentalists.
Company president James Rhodes blamed the bankrupty decision on ambitious growth plans, disrupted mining operations due to equipment failure and bad weather. He was optimistic that market demand for gypsum is steady and that the company will report positive net income later in 2019. The mine supplies gypsum to the wallboard, cement and agricultural industries.
Continental Building Products fights slow home build market in second quarter of 2019
Written by Global Cement staff
05 August 2019
US: Continental Building Products says it has been confronting a ‘sluggish’ new home construction market in the second quarter of 2019. Jay Bachmann, president and chief executive officer (CEO), said that the company was expecting the market to recover in the second half of the year and its improvement programme to reduce costs. Its net sales fell by 4% year-on-year to US$246m in the first half of 2019 from US$256m in the same period in 2018. Its net income dropped by 34% to US$28.8m from US$35.5m. Its gypsum wallboard volumes fell slightly by to 123Mm2.
The wallboard producer also said that the shutdown of its Buchanan plant in New York due to mechanical failure might cause a boost operating income and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of up to US$2m once an insurance claim is settled. The plant was shut from January 2019 to 15 March 2019. The company increased production at its plants in Silver Grove, Kentucky and Palatka, Florida to offset a portion of the lost production from the Buchanan plant.
Vietnam National Chemical Group fertiliser plant exploring commoditising phosphogypsum
Written by Global Gypsum staff
05 August 2019
Vietnam: Vietnam National Chemical Group’s DAP No 1 – Hai Phong fertiliser plant is exploring options to use phosphogypsum as an additive in cement production. The company is working with the government on finding a use for the by-product of fertiliser production, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper. Duong Duy Hung, the director of the Planning Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Science and Technology have been developing new standards and regulations on the use of phosphogypsum plaster for use in the building materials sector. A phosphogypsum dump at the plant is expected to be utilised by 2025.