Gypsum industry news

France: Saint-Gobain has launched Grow & Impact, a new strategic plan to increase profitable growth. The plan consists of new annual financial targets for 2021-2025, including organic sales growth of 3 - 5%, an operating margin of 9 – 11%, a free cash flow conversion ratio above 50%, a return on capital employed of 12 - 15% and an annual dividend payout ratio representing 30-50% of recurring net income. The company also announced a Euro2bn share buyback programme for 2021 – 2025.

Saint-Gobain has forecast full-year energy and raw materials costs of Euro1.5bn, up by 36% from its previous estimate of Euro1.1bn. Euro1.1bn (73%) of the new estimate is forecast for the second half of 2021. The group said that it will need a positive price impact of around 6% over the full year and of 8% in the second half of 2021 in order to offset this. CEO Benoit Bazin said “The Group will build on the success of its new local organisation and its multinational culture driven by performance and by proximity to its customers, in order to benefit fully from strong growth on its underlying markets. By capitalising on innovation and the power of data to enrich our range of solutions, Grow & Impact will enable us to outperform our underlying markets and maximise our positive impact in numerous areas.” He added “Our vision is to become the worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction. In a world moving towards net-zero carbon, Saint-Gobain aims to provide a full range of solutions that address three major issues of our time: drastically reducing the 40% of CO2 emissions linked to construction, protecting natural resources and facing the challenge of rapid urbanisation in emerging countries.”

US: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be receiving public comment until 6 Feb 2020 on Eagle Materials' proposed 100 acre expansion of its 830 acre mine near Gypsum in Eagle County, Colorado. The mine supplies gypsum to its 67Mm2-capacity Eagle Materials gypsum wallboard plant in gypsum. BLM Colorado River Valley field manager Larry Sandoval said, “Responsible mineral development is part of BLM’s multiple-use mission,” according to RealVail newspaper.

China/US: China’s Ministry of Commerce has proposed placing retaliatory tariffs on products from the US, including gypsum and gypsum products. The list covers 5207 items and proposes adding import taxes of up to 25% on them. It includes gypsum and gypsum wallboard. The ministry said that the new tariffs will take effect at a date to be announced later on.

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.

Algeria: Groupe des Ciments d’Algérie’s (GICA) is in discussions to export gypsum. The Algerian cement producer has announced plans to export up to 1.5Mt of cement in 2018, according to the Algeria Press Service. The company handles its exports via the ports of Arzew and Djendjen.

India/Pakistan: Raw gypsum exports are growing at the Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India. Around 3000t/day or 80 trucks of gypsum cross the border into India, according to the Nation newspaper. Exports have been increasing due to demand from Indian importers. Most of the commodity is used to make cement although it is also used to produce fertiliser and make plaster products such as gypsum wallboard.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has filed an application under the Environmental Management Act to discharge emissions from a pumice dryer and gypsum granulator at its mothballed cement plant at Kamloops in British Colombia. The building materials manufacturer plans to produce agricultural gypsum and dry pumice for concrete production at the site, according to the Kamloops This Week newspaper. The plant stopped cement production in late 2016.

US: United States Geoogical Survey (USGS) data reports production of gypsum-based board products rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 2.35Mm² in 2017 from 2.29Mm² in 2016. Mined gypsum production increased by 7% year-on-year to 18.2Mt in 2017 from 16.7Mt in 2016. Synthetic gypsum supply rose by 4% to 16.7Mt from 16Mt. Imports of crude gypsum rose by 12.7% to 4.89Mt from 4.34Mt. The major importing countries remained Mexico, Canada and Spain. Exports of gypsum board products fell by 30% to 0.71Mt from 1.01Mt. The mjaority of these products were exported to Canada.

Oman: Oman exported 6.76Mt of gypsum from January to November 2017. This compared to 4.86Mt from Thailand, according to Ramachandran, Director of USG Boral Zawawi Gypsum, an Oman-based producer and exporter of gypsum. This potentially marks a change to the gypsum export market in 2016 when Thailand exported 6.29Mt and Oman exported 5.6Mt. Other leading exporters in 2016 included Spain, Iran and Mexico.

Oman: Exports of gypsum rose by 29% year-on-year to 3.29Mt in the first five months of 2017 from 2.55Mt in the same period in 2016. The boost in export volumes mainly arose in April and May 2017, according to data from the Oman Gypsum Association. Data from the Department of Primary Industries and Mines (DPIM) in Thailand suggests that gypsum exports have fallen from that country so far in 2017. Omani gypsum producers hope to take advantage of a growing supply deficit in Asian export markets.