Gypsum industry news

Russia: The Peshelansky gypsum plant in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Volga has started production of wall panels using gypsum chipboards. Such panels are used for interior finishing.

US: China's Taishan Gypsum Co Ltd, which was accused of manufacturing substandard gypsum wallboard, has been ordered not to conduct business in the United States.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana found Taishan in contempt for failing to appear on 17 July 2014 for a hearing related to a US$2.6m judgment that it has refused to pay to seven Hampton Roads families.

The China-based company had previously claimed that US courts did not have jurisdiction in a lawsuit filed by the affected families. After losing that argument in the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in early 2014, Taishan chose not to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court. Taishan made no move toward paying the judgment or working out a settlement, so it was called into court to explain its actions.

"We will be pursuing them until hell freezes," said Arnold Levin, an attorney who had argued in New Orleans on behalf of the families.

For failing to appear, Taishan was ordered by US District Judge Eldon Fallon to pay US$15,000 in attorneys' fees and US$40,000 in penalties. He also prohibited the company from conducting business in America and declared that if it did, it would have to forfeit 25% of its profits. Fallon chided Taishan's leaders for participating in the legal process until they lost and then deciding to 'thumb their nose at the court' by not following his orders.

Fallon sent his ruling to the US secretary of commerce, the chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the US Attorney General's Office to take 'any appropriate action they may see fit.'

Vietnam: Knauf Vietnam has commenced construction of its first gypsum wallboard plant in the northern port city of Hai Phong on 16 July 2014. Located in Dinh Vu Industrial Zone, the plant has been one of the largest foreign direct investment projects in the city. Covering an area of 63,000m², the plant has a total investment of US$40m. When the plant is operational it will have a wallboard production capacity 12Mm²/yr.

"We have just launched two distributors in Vietnam, one in the south and one in the north and now we are starting the construction of our plant," said David Thomas, Knauf's general director. "We believe that, once completed by mid-2015, the plant will help us to gain a considerable market share in Vietnam in general and in the north in particular."

Thomas said that Knauf plans to expand its relationship with key partners such as distributors, architects, developers and government authorities, with an aim to widely introduce its products to the Vietnamese market.

"Dinh Vu Industrial Zone is a strategic location in terms of transportation and manufacturing that would provide the market with high quality products at competitive prices and improve the standards of the whole industry," said Thomas.

Saudi Arabia: The Saudi industrial company Al-Ahsa Development's management board has halted the construction of a gypsum plant in the Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province. The decision was made after a feasibility study of the deposits showed that the economic efficiency would be insufficient. The company has spent US$879,952 on the feasibility study and government fees for the project.

In May 2008 Al-Ahsa got a licence from the Saudi Ministry of Petrol to build a gypsum plant with a capacity of 500,000t/yr. The company planned to invest US$40.3m in the project and expected US$23.5m/yr revenue.

Ethiopia: The Geological Survey of Ethiopia (GSE) has identified 20 new mineral deposits. Eighteen of the deposits contained gypsum, limestone, marble and potash. Nineteen of the deposits were found in Oromia Region. The 20th, a coal deposit, was found in Wolkite Town, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region.