Gypsum industry news

Asia: USG has expanded its business in the Asian region with a joint venture with Australia's Boral to strengthen its foothold in the wallboard market.

"Korea is our second-largest market and is one of the big elephants along with Australia, Thailand and Indonesia," said James Metcalf, USG President and CEO.

USG Boral, a 50-50 joint venture formed in 2014, entered the building materials business with sales and operations across Asia, Australasia and the Middle East with a goal to grow earnings from the regions and to transform the business over the longer term through its product and manufacturing solutions, which include ceilings, cement board, fibreboard and lightweight wallboard.

Metcalf said that USG Boral has a five-year capital plan of investment in the areas and facility expansion, as well as transfer of technological know-how. He declined to disclose the exact amount of investment, citing confidentiality. "With strong GDP growth, Asian countries' adoption rate is expected to increase. The critical mass happening in Korea and the rest of Asian countries will continue to round out our portfolio," said Metcalf.

Metcalf said that the marriage between USG's building supply technologies and Boral's wallboard distribution footprint in the Asian and Australian markets is expected to create greater synergies in the next decade. "I wouldn't be surprised if this part of the business becomes larger than what we have in North America in the next 10 years," he said.

Vietnam: Gypsum and Cement JSC (TXM) has posted a US$27,501 net loss in the third quarter of 2015, compared to a US$82,861 net profit in the same period of 2014. The company generated US$6.72m net revenue in the period, down by 16% year-on-year. TXM attributed its loss to the depreciation of the Vietnamese Dong compared to the US Dollar, increases in management costs and a fall in financial income. In the first nine months of 2015, TXM made a US$134,370 net profit on a US$19.5m net revenue, down by 42% and 10% year-on-year, respectively.

US: Eagle Materials has reported its financial results for the second quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, which ended on 30 September 2015. Its revenue grew by 16% year-on-year to US$329m and its net earnings fell by 41% to US$29.8m, reduced by US$26.2m post-tax due to non-routine items related to the oil and gas proppants segment. Eagle Materials' adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 14% to US$110m.

Eagle's construction products and building materials businesses continued to perform well during the second quarter of 2016, with the Cement and Paperboard businesses reporting record quarterly operating earnings and the wallboard, concrete and aggregates businesses reporting year-on-year improvements. Demand for building materials and construction products remains strong in each of its regional markets. Cash flow from operations improved by 12% and was used to fund the Skyway acquisition, make capital improvements, pay dividends, reduce debt and repurchase shares.

The decline in oil prices during the summer adversely impacted US oil and gas drilling activity, leading to further reductions in demand and pricing for proppants. As a result, it recorded impairments to several intangible assets originally booked in connection with its acquisition of CRS Proppants and revalued downward certain raw sand inventory values. The impairments and inventory revaluation charges totalled approximately US$37.8m pre-tax.

Gypsum Wallboard and Paperboard reported second quarter 2016 operating earnings of US$48.1m, up by 7% year-on-year. Improved Gypsum Wallboard and Paperboard sales volumes were the primary drivers of the quarterly earnings increase. Gypsum Wallboard and Paperboard revenues for the second quarter grew by 8% to US$143m. The revenue increase reflects higher Gypsum Wallboard and Paperboard sales volumes slightly offset by a 1% decline in the average Gypsum Wallboard net sales price. Gypsum Wallboard sales volume for the quarter grew by 9% to 619Mft².

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.

Georgia/Azerbaijan: The value of imported construction materials from Azerbaijan to Georgia fell by 50% from January 2015 to September 2015, according to a report issued by the National Statistics Office of Georgia.

The country imported 64,870t of gypsum plaster and other anhydrites worth a total of US$8.7m from Azerbaijan during the period. Further, the volume of imported construction materials from Azerbaijan to Georgia decreased by 39.7% compared to the same period in 2014. Officials noted that Georgia imported 107,630t of construction materials, worth US$18.5m, from Azerbaijan during the period. Construction materials accounted for 2.2% of the total volume of Azerbaijani exports to Georgia in the first nine months of 2015. In total, Georgia imported US$392m in products from Azerbaijan in January 2015 – September 2015, or 13.7% less than in the same period in 2014.