Gypsum industry news

Romania: Etex has proposed investing Euro6m at the Rovinari thermal power plant run by Oltenia Energy in order to secure supplies of flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) gypsum for its Turceni wallboard plant. It wants to build a desulphurisation unit at the power plant following falling energy production at the Turceni power plant, according to Economica. Etex is currently in negotiation with Oltenia Energy over the proposal.

France: Building Material Group (BMG) plans to build a 30Mm²/yr gypsum wallboard plant in Marseille. It has signed a lease with the port of Marseille Fos for a six-hectare plot of land at Caban, Fos-sur-Mer. The project has a budget to Euro60m and construction will start in 2020. Commissioning is scheduled for late 2022.

Canada: CertainTeed Canada plans to close its McAdam gypsum wallboard plant in New Brunswick by the end of February 2021. It said that the decision was made after ‘an extensive review of our business,’ according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). 50 employees are expected to lose their jobs, although the subsidiary of France-based Saint-Gobain says it will try to find roles at other CertainTeed and Saint-Gobain plants for them.
Production will stop at the unit at the end of August 2020. The plant will then continue using inventory until February 2021 with a skeleton staff. The plant was reported to be operating at 22 – 25% production capacity. The closure has been blamed on a decline for wallboard products in the Atlantic Canada region and elsewhere.

UK: Matt Pullen, the managing director of British Gypsum, says that the company intends to loosen restrictions on wallboard sales in August 2020. “Whilst we continue to see high levels of demand, we have sufficient capacity to supply your wallboard requirements without formal supply restrictions,” said Pullen. He added that the company’s plaster manufacturing plants continue to, ‘operate consistently at maximum capability.’

Gypsum plaster-based products have been in short supply in the UK since the local coronavirus-related lockdown started in March 2020. The subsidiary of Saint-Gobain suspended operations in April 2020 and Knauf stopped production at its wallboard plants in the UK at the end of March 2020. British Gypsum reported in late May 2020 that its wallboard capacity was at ‘approximately’ 80% of pre-coronavirus pandemic levels following the scaling up of its ‘Covid-19 safe’ operations and distribution plan. Etex’s Siniat said it was ending product allocation controls in early July 2020.

US: The Bureau of Land Management has approved American Gypsum’s proposal to expand its gypsum mine at Eagle, Colorado by around 40 hectares. The current quarry has been in operation since 1984. The mine and associated Eagle gypsum wallboard plant near Gypsum produce around 60Mm2/yr of wallboard and employ nearly 100 people. American Gypsum is the fifth largest producer of gypsum wallboard in North America, operating four wallboard plants.

Australia: Knauf is reportedly looking for buyers for its business in Australia. The Royal Bank of Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers have been helping the gypsum wallboard producer manage a potential sale, according to the Australian newspaper. The German company operates three wallboard plants in the country. They are thought to be worth up to US$200m.

Any such sale is likely to be related to Knauf’s acquisition of USG in 2019. The US-based company owns a 50% share in USG-Boral, which also operates wallboard plants in Australia. Boral said in April 2020 that it thought it unlikely that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would approve its plans for USG-Boral so far. If Knauf were able to sell its other assets in Australia then its options with USG-Boral are more likely to be accepted. Speculation has mounted in the local press about partial or full asset divestments by Knauf in Australia since the USG acquisition.

UK: Planning permission has been granted by Newport City Council for a new gypsum wallboard plant to be built by Associated British Ports (ABP). The unit will be built on empty land to the south west of Newport Dock’s South Dock, according to the South Wales Argus newspaper. The building will be up to 202m long and 110m wide, with a maximum height of 21m. Gypsum for the plant will be delivered by ship. The project is expected to create up to 70 jobs. Once complete, the facility will be leased to a manufacturer by ABP.

UK: British Gypsum says its wallboard capacity is at ‘approximately’ 80% of pre-coronavirus pandemic levels following the scaling up of its ‘Covid-19 safe’ operations and distribution plan. Managing director Matt Pullen said that the company’s plaster capacity was already at 80% and it was increasing supply volumes to merchant and distributor customers. It is continuing to allocate wallboard and plaster at lower levels than usual as it resumes normal production. It has also restarted taking new orders for its plasterboard recycling service. The subsidiary of Saint-Gobain shut down its non-essential operations in early April 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

US: Johns Manville’s (JM) filtration products plant in Richland, Mississippi started production of nonwoven filtration media for use in face masks in April 2020. JM’s Engineered Products business decided to build on its existing capabilities and help meet market demand due to shortages in the US and Europe in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Johns Manville is in a unique position to serve a market that is fulfilling a great need across the world,” said Mary Rhinehart, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of JM. “Our high-performance nonwoven material is designed to provide high levels of filtration for various types of face masks. We are proud of our teams in Richland and throughout JM for finding new ways to support the communities and people who are on the front lines of this global crisis.”

JM says its media meets or exceeds Level 1 BFE 95% (Bacterial Filtration Efficiency) and VFE (Viral Filtration Efficiency) requirements. These results were verified by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) registered laboratory.

UK: France-based Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum has announced the suspension of non-essential operations until 22 April 2020, subject to regular review in light of government advice. British Gypsum managing director Matt Pullen said, “Further information on when new orders can be placed and deliveries made will be available nearer the time, after the safe re-start of our operations.”

The company says that it will retain a ‘small-scale customer services, operations and logistics team to be able to provide drylining products to support those NHS and other Covid-19 response essential infrastructure and building projects.’