Gypsum industry news

Belarus: Belarusian gypsum wallboard demand will decrease by 12.5 - 17% in 2015, according to OJSC Belgips and FLLC Knauf Marketing, key players in the country. According to the companies' executives, the fall is a consequence of reducing funding of the construction industry and a decline in commercial real estate.

"In 2014, gypsum wallboard consumption in Belarus amounted to about 12Mm². In 2015, we estimate that the consumption will decrease to 10 - 10.5Mm²," said the director of Belgips, Stanislav Babitsky. The director of FLLC Knauf Marketing Alexander Babkin confirmed the 2014 market size at 12Mm² and said that he expects demand in 2015 to fall to 10Mm².

The head of corporate communications of Knauf for the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Leonid Moose said that the main consumer of wallboard in Belarus was the business-to-business (B2B) sector, namely, the commercial real estate market. Out of the total wallboard consumption, the B2B sector had 70%, while the business-to-consumer (B2C) sector had 30%.

"The commercial real estate market is falling, while the population is beginning to save money and invest it in repairs. For this reason, we are observing the fall of consumption of gypsum wallboard and, at the same time, the growth of consumption, in particular, of dry building mixes, whose main consumer is the B2C sector," said Moose. "Meanwhile in Europe, wallboard is being increasingly used for partitions in individual building more than in Belarus."

Meanwhile, the demand for gypsum wallboard from the population has intensified, according to Babitsky. "The consumption of wallboard is increasing due to the growth in framed-monolithic housing in Belarus. During the last two years, the consumption growth was 20%. It smoothes the fall in demand from the commercial sector," said Babitsky. He added that another negative factor on the Belarusian market is the increased competition on the part of Russian players because of the Russian Ruble devaluation and the Russian wallboard market narrowing. Russia's wallboard production is around 600Mm²/yr, while consumption is 250Mm². As such, exports to Belarus have increased.

Belgips plans to develop new products for sale on the domestic and export markets. According to Gubanova, the company is considering entry into Lithuania and Latvia.

Colombia/Germany: Knauf International GmbH has announced that a definitive agreement has been signed with Gyptec, a Colombian wallboard producer, to acquire the assets of the company. As well as in Colombia, Gyptec has interests in Venezuela, Ecuador and Central America. The transaction also includes Hanetec, a supplier of building products associated with wallboards.

Serge Azaïs, member of the Knauf Management Committee in charge of South America, said, "It is a very significant move for our group to be part of the development of the northern part of South America, after our industrial presence for 15 years in Brazil and Argentina. We are extremely confident of the potential of this zone. We will very shortly increase capacity in order to deliver to Central America and the Caribbean countries from the facility in Cartagena. We look forward to welcoming the Colombian team into the Knauf family."

Russia: CJSC Knauf Gips Baskunchak, based in the Astrakhan region, plans to start developing the Kashara-Tugai gypsum deposit before the end of 2015, according to company director Sergei Michkov.

"We are commissioning the Kashara-Tugai deposit, located north of Lake Baskunchak. We have received the development license and the documentation has been agreed. The reserves are quite large: it will support production for 100 years," said Michkov in comments reported on by Interfax.

Astrakhan region has reported 67.5Mt of gypsum registered on its state records. Knauf Gips Baskunchak had a total of 111Mt of gypsum reserves recorded at the start of 2015. Knauf Gips Baskunchak, which joined the Knauf group in 1998, produces high-quality dry mixes from gypsum and supplies gypsum to Russian cement plants and other enterprises.

Australia: The Gladstone Port Corporation has approved construction of a US$54m Knauf Plasterboard manufacturing plant at Bundaberg Port, Queensland to begin by the end of 2015. The project is anticipated to create up to 100 local jobs over the next 18 months, according to local media. The plant is due to be completed in January 2017.

Egypt: Sales from Knauf's recently opened wallboard plant in Suez could reach US$15m in Egypt and Africa during the first year of production, according to Alexander Knauf, managing partner of the company. The company plans to sell 8Mm2 of gypsum wallboard during the first year of operation, Knauf said in a statement.

Egypt: The German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GACIC) has announced the opening of a new US$50m Knauf Egypt plant. The plant has a capacity of 15Mm²/yr of gypsum wallboard, 90,000t/yr of other gypsum products and 25Mm/yr of metal cutters. Construction in the Ataqa Suez industrial zone began in 2010. Suez was selected as the plant site because of its strategic location between raw materials sites, local markets and major export markets.

Uzbekistan: Knauf has started a new US$52.5m investment project at two of its plants in Bukhara. The move follows the signing of a new agreement in 2014 by Knauf and Uzstroymateriali JSC to boost economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Germany.

Knauf has already invested US$51m in Uzbekistan. It has two plants in Bukhara: JV JSC Bukharagips, which produces dry building mixes and Knauf Gips Bukhara, which produces gypsum wallboard. The 60,000t/yr capacity Bukharagips plant started operations in August 2009, while the 20Mm³/yr capacity Knauf Gips Bukhara plant was built in 2011.

Azerbaijan: Gypsum exporters in Azerbaijan deliberately reduced export prices of gypsum by a factor of 10 in 2014 to evade tax, according to research by the Turan Information Agency conducted on data from Azerbaijan and Georgia state sources.

According to the research, the export and import values for gypsum failed to match between Azerbaijan and Georgia in 2014, leading to a US$24.1m tax shortfall. Gypsum exported from Azerbaijan was valued at US$17/t but gypsum imported into Georgia was valued at US$170/t. Almost all export of gypsum of Azerbaijan appeared to go to Georgia according to data from the National Statistics Office of Georgia. Turan dubbed gypsum producers in Azerbaijan as the 'Gypsum Mafia'.

The main producers of plaster in Azerbaijan are Garant Holding and Gilan Holding. Both companies are located close to gypsum deposits in the Goranboy region. Gilan Holding has a joint venture with the German company Knauf for the production of wallboard.

Australia: Knauf Plasterboard is expected to announce that it will begin the construction phase of a new plant at the Bundaberg Port in south-east Queensland. Knauf Plasterboard currently manufactures and distributes plasterboard and accessories out of its Melbourne and Sydney plants.

In 2014, the company bought land from Gladstone Ports Corporation at the Bundaberg Port and is expected to start building a new plant in March 2015. Company spokesman Brian Tisher said that the new plant would create 200 jobs in the construction phase and 55 new positions when the project was complete in 2016. Tisher said that most of the products made would be sold in Queensland, but some would be exported. He added that building the facility in Bundaberg was an obvious choice, as a 26km gas pipeline was recently installed. The plant should be operational by September 2016.

Australia/New Zealand: The Australian and New Zealand chiefs of Knauf's wallboard operations have resigned. Additionally, the New Zealand business is under review, having posted a loss in its first nine months of operations.

The head of the New Zealand wallboard unit, John Russ, has confirmed to local media that he has resigned and will leave the company in two weeks. Meanwhile Mark Norris, managing director of Knauf Plasterboard in Australia, resigned with immediate effect on 6 November 2014.

Knauf has struggled to gain traction in the New Zealand building market, which is dominated by Fletcher Building and it took Knauf longer than expected to gain approval for its products from BRANZ, a local independent research and testing institute, before it could start to sell to consumers. Even then, the company said that it faced resistance getting its products into stores, which had established relationships with Fletcher.