Gypsum industry news

Chile: Knauf Gips KG has purchased a gypsum quarry from cement producer Cementos Bio Bio for US$20m. The acquisition will allow Knauf to consolidate its presence in South American. The company, which already owns three gypsum plants in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, plans to expand its geographical reach to Ecuador, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean.

Russia: Knauf has begun the construction of a Euro16.8m gypsum dry building mix plant in Chapayevsk, Samara. The plant is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2016. The 170,000m² plant area is under municipal ownership and will be leased by Knauf for 49 years. The plant will be Knauf's 15th production enterprise in Russia.

"In the region there is a raw materials base, which is important for Knauf. As there is quite a large amount of construction in the region currently, construction materials producers are needed. We understand that it is much more advantageous to localise production here, than to transport materials from other regions and engage in, in particular, international logistics," said Samara's Regional Economic Development Minister Alexander Kobenko. "It is planned for the plant to reach full capacity in two and a half years. It will produce about 240,000t/yr of gypsum binder and 130,000t/yr of building mixes. This is about Euro25m/yr," said Kobenko.

Russia: Turkey's Erişim has completed another gypsum plant in Orenburg, Russia. The official opening of the gypsum plant Volma took place on 4 September 2015. The Orenburg Regional Governor, Yury Berg, the President of Volma, Alexander Malashkin and the Chairman of Board of Volma, Yury Goncharov, took part in the opening ceremony.

"Volma Orenburg is a modern, ecologically-safe project that will actively participate in the implementation of import replacement projects and in the cooperation between Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) countries," said Goncharov.

The new plant has been built with high-tech, environmentally-friendly technologies. The plaster production volume upon achieving its estimated capacity will be 120,000t/yr. From pre-engineering to commissioning, the plant has been completed in 16 months by Erişim.

Volma's other new gypsum plant in Adygeya, the 240,000t/yr Maikop plant, will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015 and was also built by Erişim.

Romania: Siniat Romania, part of Etex, has opened a gypsum plant in Turceni, Gorj, following a Euro50m investment from its own funds.

The gypsum wallboard plant encompasses 320,000m² of land and is the largest in Romania, according to the company. With a production capacity of 27Mm2 of wallboard, the unit serves a strategic purpose for Siniat Romania, covering 10 markets across south-east Europe.

The Turceni plant is the first in Romania that uses synthetic gypsum produced from the gas desulphurisation process from a power plant. The gypsum has high purity and consistency and is an excellent feedstock for wallboard. In addition, water used in the production process will come from rainwater collected from the roofs of the plant and drilled wells, thus limiting resource consumption, while waste water will also be internally recycled.

Siniat has also invested Euro1m in the construction of a new road that links the plant to the national road, limiting the impact of heavy vehicles on the local community. The plant provides 80 new employment opportunities for the local community, with the new employees being trained in Siniat plants in Romania, Italy and Germany.

"Siniat plays an active role in local communities. We particularly appreciate the labour force in Romania, with well-trained and motivated people. We constantly invest in technology and use high quality raw material. We develop in a stable economic environment with high potential. Our goal is to capitalise on this potential," said Marc-André Fritzsche, General Manager of Siniat Romania. Siniat Romania has two other plants in Bucharest and Aghiresu (Cluj).

Belarus: Construction of a new gypsum plant in Hatava near Minsk started on 7 October 2015. The project is financed by Russia's Volma Corporation, which acquired the Belarusian government's 99.5% stake in AAT Belhips, a Minsk-based manufacturer of gypsum products, for Euro4.65m in 2014. In 2014, Volma Corporation also signed an agreement whereby it would provide a total of Euro45.5m for the modernisation of the Belhips plant and the construction of a new gypsum plant.

Volma Corporation chose Belarus as the place for its new plant because of the country's 'stability and open economy,' according to Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Anatol Kalinin. According to him, the future plant, which is expected to be completed in less than two and a half years, will provide a boost to the Belarusian economy and contribute to Volma's development as well. The plant will manufacture 30Mm²/yr of wallboard, 500,000Mm³/yr of gypsum blocks and 100,000t/yr of dry building mixes. Most of the output will be exported to western Europe when operations start in 2018. The new plant is expected to create at least 180 new jobs.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Volma Company Yuri Goncharov stressed that the construction of a new plant is not a simple project from an economic point of view. "It is not the best time for return on investment. However, looking into the future we understand that the Belarusian construction sector has big potential," said Goncharov. "These are big capacities. Today, Belarus consumes 12Mm2/yr of gypsum. Our main objective is to prove to the Belarusian construction industry that gypsum materials are more efficient in terms of energy performance, environmental friendliness and economy."

Belarusian First Deputy Construction Minister Alyaksandr Kruchanaw described the project as very important for Belarus' construction sector. "It is important for Minsk as well because it is part of efforts to remove industrial facilities from the capital city, which will improve the environment in the city," said Kruchanaw.

Pakistan: A new gypsum plant is under construction in Karachi, Pakistan, under the name of United Gypsum. The plant will include 100,000t/yr of gypsum powder capacity and 10Mm²/yr of gypsum wallboard capacity. It is expected to start in the middle of 2016.

India: Saint Gobain Gyproc will set up a new US$60m manufacturing plant in India. "We have identified western India as suitable location for the new plant," said V Subramanian, Managing Director of Gypsum Business for Saint Gobain India. A final decision on the location will be taken by the end of 2015.

Gyproc India already has three manufacturing plants in the country in Jind (near Delhi), Wada (near Mumbai) and Bengaluru. The combined production capacity of these plants is about 46Mm2/yr. "Our capacity utilisation ratio is very high. The proposed new plant will add another 30Mm²/yr of capacity,'' added Subramanian.

Romania: Siniat Romania, part of Belgian industrial group Etex, will open a Euro50m wallboard plant in Turceni, southern Romania in October 2015.

The company will create 80 new jobs in the production division of the plant. Some 80% of the staff has already been recruited. The plant will produce plasterboard using synthetic gypsum from power producer CET Turceni. It will be the only plant in Romania to use synthetic gypsum from the flue gas desulphurisation process at a thermal power plant, according to Siniat.

Pakistan: DFB Gypsum Industries has announced that it is building a new gypsum facility in Hattar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The new plant is expected to start production in the middle of 2016. It will have a 100,000t/yr plaster line and a 6Mm²/yr wallboard line.

Turkey: Onat GYPS has officially opened its new 25,000m²/day capacity gypsum wallboard plant near its gypsum plaster plant in Ankara, Turkey. The machine and automation systems were developed by Grenzebach Maschinenbau GmbH engineers.