Gypsum industry news

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan produced 42,600t of construction gypsum during 2022, up by 15% year-on-year from 2021 levels. There was 1900t of construction gypsum in warehouses at the end of the year.

The total value of building materials produced in Azerbaijan rose by 13% year-on-year in 2022, to US$635m.

France: A public enquiry into Saint-Gobain subsidiary Placoplatre's plans to establish a gypsum quarry at Fort Vaujours, Seine-Saint-Denis, opened earlier in November 2022. The producer plans to use the new site to serve its Vaujours gypsum wallboard plant as a replacement for its Bernouille quarry after the latter closes in 2026. The 65Mm²/yr facility consumes 900,000t/yr of natural gypsum.

Eco group Environnement 93 has protested the anticipated enviromental impacts of opening a quarry of sufficient size to reach the gypsum deposit 25m below ground. Placoplatre's proposal consists of a three-stage approach in which it demolishes buildings, clears any hazardous residues from the site's military and nuclear power testing history and only then commences extraction. The company plans to restore part of the site after mining is completed. The enquiry will run until 23 December 2022.

UK: The European Space Agency, University of Glasgow and others are using France-based Saint-Gobain's Bantycock, Nottinghamshire, quarry to test new drill bit designs for their Drill for Extensive Exploration of Planetary Environments Using Robots (DEEPER) project. The project aims to develop tens-of-metres-long spoolable drill 'strings' to help in the search for water on Mars. Researchers will use their prototypes to drill directly into the mine's gypsum deposits. Saint-Gobain said that the hydrated mineral gypsum provides a similar geological profile to that of Mars.

Gypsum wallboard production by Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum at its nearby Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, and East Leake, Nottinghamshire, gypsum wallboard plants relies on Bantycock gypsum.

Nigeria: State governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya opened the Gombe State Investment Summit in the northeastern state of Gombe on 12 October 2022. The summit aims to attract investors from within and outside of Nigeria. The state government hopes that local mineral reserves and the state's strategic location will appeal to investors from new industries to the state, including the gypsum wallboard industry.

The This Day newspaper has reported that Yahaya said “We have the largest deposits of gypsum in the country." He continued “Gombe is also blessed with huge commercial deposits of coal, oil, and gas."

Earlier this month the German Gypsum Association (GIPS) gave its approval for an inventory of natural gypsum deposits in Germany that was presented at the Conference of Economics Ministers that took place in early July 2022. The Federal Commission on Geosciences (BLA-GEO) had previously been given the job of taking an inventory of deposits and this was then put in front of the policy makers. The association’s stance was all about securing future supplies. In its view there will be no large-scale alternatives to natural gypsum supplies in the foreseeable future due to low recycling rates and falling production of flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) gypsum as coal power plants are shut down. So a list of where natural gypsum might be found is the start of conversations about which ones might be mined. Readers who are interested can download the inventory of German gypsum deposits here.

Security of supply of raw materials has been in the air since the end of the coronavirus lockdowns started to cause supply chain disruption around the world and the Russian invasion of Ukraine further exacerbated this and rocked energy markets. Part of the reaction to this new reality could be seen in a conference that the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and the German Resource Research Institute (GERRI) ran, also in early July 2022. The state of German gypsum supplies was presented at this event too. The BGR-GERRI conference came up with a ten-point plan to strengthen the supply of raw material. Some of these recommendations were to grow domestic raw material extraction, expand recycling and the circular economy and keep supply chains closer internationally, ideally within Germany and Europe.

A focus on gypsum supplies isn’t restricted to Germany though. The issue arose in late July 2022 during an earnings call for US-based Eagle Materials’ first quarter results. These kinds of questions from analysts about supply of raw materials are common for a public company but it reinforces the general declining trend around the world of synthetic gypsum supplies. Craig Kessler, the chief financial officer of Eagle Materials, mentioned that a scarcity of synthetic gypsum might be creating cost pressures for other gypsum wallboard producers. Although he was quick to describe his company as a “natural gas or natural gypsum oriented business.” The wider picture in the US is that the ratio of natural to synthetic gypsum production has grown over the last decade. United States Geological Survey (USGS) data shows that it was 37% / 49% in 2011 compared to 53% / 32% in 2021, with the remainder imported in each year.

One more point to make here is that many of the new gypsum wallboard plant projects announced in the over the last few months have involved recycling in one form or another. For example, Siniat’s forthcoming wallboard plant in Bristol in the UK aims to achieve 30% post-consumer gypsum recycling. CertainTeed’s current upgrade plans for its Palatka plant in Florida are also recycling-based. Similarly, the subsidiary of Saint-Gobain also completed an upgrade in June 2022 to allow more recycling at its Nashville plant in Arkansas.

Finally, some of the thinking in Germany and elsewhere has been influenced by the current geopolitical situation in Ukraine. However, one potential consequence of prolonged disruption to European energy markets could be a delay to the decline of coal power plants as plant lifespans are elongated or even new ones built. This in turn could mean more synthetic gypsum supplies in Europe in the short to medium term. How all of this plays out in the placement of new gypsum wallboard plants in Europe over the next few years will be interesting to observe.

Germany: The German Gypsum Association (GIPS) has welcomed the publication of a government report that took an inventory of natural gypsum deposits. It supports the work as it allows its members to make qualified decisions about future planning. The Federal Commission on Geosciences (BLA-GEO) has created a register of gypsum supplies in the country. The association added that it believes there will be no large-scale alternatives to natural gypsum supplies in the foreseeable future. This is due to low volumes of gypsum recycling and falling production of flue gas desulfurisation (FGD) Gypsum as coal power plants are shut down.

US: Gypsum wallboard companies sold 629Mm² of gypsum wallboard in the first quarter of 2022, in line with first-quarter 2021 sales, according to US Geological Survey (USGS) figures. They exported 16.9Mm², up by 6% year-on-year from first-quarter 2021 volumes. Canada received 15Mm², 94% of exports. The US Census Bureau recorded gypsum wallboard imports of 22.2Mm², up by 28% year-on-year. Mexico supplied 19.1Mm² (86%), while Canada supplied 2.89Mm² (13%).

In the first quarter of 2022, national natural gypsum production was 5.33Mt, up by 2.1% year-on-year from 5.22Mt in the first quarter of 2021.

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan’s total production of construction gypsum was 17,100t in the first eight months of 2021, up by 33% year-on-year from 12,900t in the corresponding period of 2020.

On-going large-scale state construction projects the new territories East of Zangazur and Karabakh are anticipated to increase full-year gypsum production in 2021 and into subsequent years.

US: The US Geological Survey (USGS) has reported a 13% year-on-year increase in national calcined gypsum production in the first half of 2021 to 9.57Mt from 8.5Mt in the first half of 2020. The country’s gypsum mines produced 10.1Mt of natural gypsum, down by 3.8% from 10.48Mt in 2021. Synthetic gypsum production remained in line with first-half 2020 levels at 7.2Mt. In total, the US exported 17,900t of natural and synthetic gypsum, up by 8.2% from 16,600t. It exported 49,000t of calcined gypsum, up by 10% from 44,500t.

In the second quarter of 2021, the US exported gypsum wallboard to 29 other countries. Volumes totalled 19Mm2, up by 40% year-on-year. Canada accounted for 95% of gypsum wallboard exports. The US imported 20.9Mm2 of gypsum wallboard during the quarter, up by 54% year-on-year. All imports came from Mexico and Canada, of which Mexico supplied 16.7Mm2 (85%).

US: The United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Gypsum in the First Quarter 2021 report has shown a 2% year-on-year increase in sales of gypsum-based board products to 624Mm² in the first quarter of 2021 from 609Mm² in the same period in 2020. Calcined gypsum used by board producers rose by 3% to 5.6Mt from 5.5Mt. Natural gypsum production fell by 4% year-on-year to 5.0Mt from 5.2Mt, synthetic gypsum production remained level at 3.6Mt and gypsum imports rose by 14% to 1.6Mt from 1.4Mt.