Gypsum industry news

India: Saint-Gobain India plans to grow its gypsum business as part of a new investment phase, targeting revenues of US$4.3bn across its businesses by 2032. The Hindu newspaper has reported that this represents growth by a factor of three from 2023 levels. The investment phase will include total capex of US$719 – 959m from 2021 to 2025, with ‘significant’ allocations to gypsum activities. The company had invested US$1.58bn up to the end of 2023, including acquisitions in the gypsum wallboard segment.

Asia-Pacific and India regional CEO B Santhanam said "We have made huge investments in India, and quite a lot of them were in new plants."

Asia: India’s new anti-dumping duty on imports of gypsum wallboard from China and Oman will remain in force for the five-year period up to the end of 2028. The Hitavada newspaper has reported that the duty also applies to gypsum tiles.

Oman: Oman exported 11.2Mt of natural gypsum from its Port of Salalah in 2023, up by 11% year-on-year from 9.9Mt in 2022. Zawawi Minerals has reported that the main destination for exports was India, which received 5.3Mt (47%) of Oman’s exported gypsum for the year. Oman is reportedly the source of 90% of India’s gypsum imports.

India: The government has implemented new duties on imports of gypsum wallboard from China and Oman. Importers will pay US$23.46 – 47.62/t on Chinese gypsum wallboard and US$71.80 – 91.42/t on Omani gypsum wallboard. The Hindu newspaper has reported that precise rates will depend upon the producer of the wallboard.

India: Saint-Gobain Gyproc has launched a range of products including gypsum wallboards. The new product line includes 'Habito Standard' a gypsum wallboard made for heavy unplanned and planned loading applications, 'Rigiroc,' a multi-purpose moisture resistant board and 'Glasroc X,' a wallboard for exterior applications. Saint-Gobain Gyproc also released a ceiling tile product at the same time.

Najwa Khoury, Global Gypsum Strategy Director at parent company Saint-Gobain, said "Saint-Gobain Gyproc continues to be committed to meeting the demands of the changing preferences and environmental conditions in India. Over the last few years, we have seen a growing acceptance of drywall and modern ceiling tiles in India, and we want to stay ahead of the curve. We are delighted to introduce a new range of innovative products that are functionally superior, sustainable, affordable and customizable, redefining the future of construction.”

The products will be available in India and neighbouring countries including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

India: The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended a five-year anti-dumping duty on gypsum tiles imported from China and Oman. Saint-Gobain India initiated the investigation that started in late 2022. It considered gypsum tiles laminated on one side with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or wax paper that are typically used in ceilings. The study concluded that the product had been “exported to India at a price below the normal value, resulting in dumping.”

India: Saint-Gobain plans to invest over US$400m in its different businesses, including gypsum wallboard, in Tamil Nadu. Company chair Pierre-Andre de Chalendar and chief executive officer Benoit Bazin met the Chief Minister MK Stalin, senior ministers and officials of the government of Tamil Nadu as part of the announcement. The new funding brings the company’s total investment in the state to over US$950m.

Grenzebach said earlier this month that it is going to invest around Euro2m on growing its presence in Pune. The current sales and service branch will be merged with a new production site in the city in Maharashtra. The site will be used for the assembly of conveyor equipment and welding work for dryers and lehr ovens for the glass industry. Production at the new unit is expected to start in October 2023 and it will create around 30 new jobs.

The decision by the Germany-based equipment supplier to expand in India follows Saint-Gobain’s expansion plans in India. It said in late 2022 that it was planning to spend US$215m towards capacity expansion plans in 2023 as part of a larger investment in the region, of US$970m between 2022 and 2025. Its stated aim for the new investment is to grow its revenue to US$4.4bn in 2032 from US$1.5bn in 2022. To break this down, half of the group’s turnover in India comes at present from glass-related businesses, 30% from gypsum and construction chemicals and the rest from abrasives, ceramics and life sciences. Some examples of this planned investment include the acquisition by Saint-Gobain of Rockwool India, a stone wool manufacturer, in February 2023 and an agreement to buy UP Twiga Fiberglass, a glass wool producer. Saint-Gobain is the biggest gypsum wallboard producer by capacity in India with four plants, followed by USGKnauf, which runs two plants, and various independent producers.

Growing the wallboard market in India has long seemed like an enticing prospect given the country’s demographics, low production capacity per capita compared to Europe and North America, and sustainability trends. However, despite all of this, it is taking a long time to get there. One commentator on LinkedIn has suggested that this may be down to reticence from the construction sector to adopt the product. In his view wallboard in India has mainly been used for ceilings and for commercial and industrial applications but not for residential projects. Producers, such as Saint-Gobain are likely to be well aware of this. So it is interesting to note that two projects in India picked up awards in Saint-Gobain’s International Gypsum Trophy in 2023.

On the crude gypsum side, data from the Indian Bureau of Mines and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) show that India produced an estimated 4.3Mt of gypsum from its mines from reserves of 37Mt. These reserves are far smaller than other countries with large populations such as China, the US, Brazil or Türkiye. The country also produced an estimated 2.1Mt of flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) gypsum in the 2023 – 2023 financial year. However, the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) estimates that its sector used 13 – 17Mt in 2020 – 2021 when cement production was 331Mt and that this is forecast to rise to 20 – 25Mt in 2024 – 2025 when cement production reaches 491Mt. This corresponds to the 4 – 5% of gypsum that it is added to clinker when grinding it to manufacture ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and other cement types.

In acknowledgment of this gap between mining and usage, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) started promoting recycling gypsum from fertiliser production and power plants in May 2023. So far, its main focus has been on improving access to phosphogypsum stockpiles, although the target for FGD production is an ambitious 9.9Mt by 2025 – 2026. Unsurprisingly, gypsum exporters have benefitted from this situation. Oman, reportedly, exported nearly 5Mt of gypsum to India in 2022. Historically, Thailand and Iran have also supplied the Indian market with gypsum.

India remains the great maybe for wallboard adoption outside of North America and Europe. The latest round of investment by Saint-Gobain and Grenzebach may yet deliver on this. Both companies are looking at a range of light materials including glass and insulation not just wallboard. So far though, the main merger and acquisition activity by Saint-Gobain has been targeted on insulation companies. Once or if Saint-Gobain or anyone else starts buying gypsum companies or building new plants then we will have a sense that something is changing. Alongside this, the DPIIT’s plans to recycle more gypsum may help bring further attention to the local gypsum sector.

Oman: Producers and exporters despatched 9.9Mt of gypsum from Oman in 2022. The figure corresponds to year-on-year growth of 13% from 8.74Mt in 2021. The Oman Daily Observer newspaper has reported that India received 4.84Mt (49%) of Omani gypsum exports during the year. This accounts for 87% of the South Asian nation's total gypsum imports, of 5.54Mt, in 2022. The total figure shows a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% between 2009 and 2022. The market's forecast CAGR up to 2037 is 5.2%.

The Indian cement industry, which reportedly relies on the dwindling domestic stock of phosphogypsum, is anticipated an anticipated source of continued growth in demand.

India: Saint-Gobain has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Vibrant Energy, a subsidiary of Macquarie Asset Management's Green Investment Group (MAM-GIG), to provide wind and solar electricity to six local sites. The 20-year PPA will start in 2024 and bring the company’s national renewable electricity share to 65% in 2025. Under the agreement, Vibrant Energy will provide Saint-Gobain with 189GWhr/yr of renewable electricity. The company says that it is on target to achieve 100% renewable electricity in India by 2030 by replacing fossil fuels with biomass, using waste heat recovery and other measures.

Saint-Gobain India operates 76 manufacturing plants in the country including four gypsum wallboard units.