Gypsum industry news

Lithuania: Eco Baltia plans to invest Euro700,000 in the establishment of a new construction waste sorting line in Lithuania. Nordic Daily News has reported that this will enable the company to improve its material recovery rate to 82% from 60%. Supplier Ecoservice will supply the automated line, which can handle waste gypsum wallboard alongside other materials.

Eco Baltia's head of environmental management Jānis Aizbalts said "Considering the increasing volume of construction waste and the need to ensure their reuse, we are purposefully developing construction waste sorting possibilities and new technological solutions. Ecoservice has already completed a modernisation project for the existing construction waste sorting area, installing new and more efficient equipment that will double the company's construction waste sorting capacity."

US: Advanced materials producer Xeriant plans to enter trial production of its recycled plastic-based gypsum wallboard alternative, NEXBOARD. Plastic products company TMF Corporation will support production by agglomerating post-industrial plastic waste and densifying it, along with different eco-friendly flame retardants, for use as feedstock.

US: USG says that the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved its 2030 emission reduction targets. The subsidiary of Germany-based Knauf said that it was one of just a few companies in the US building-product sector that has signed onto SBTi. The company has agreed to reduce its carbon emissions from manufacturing (Scope 1 and 2) at the WB-2°C (well below 2°C) level, which equates to a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. USG has also committed to reducing carbon emissions associated with purchased raw materials and services, transportation and waste generation (Scope 3) by 15% within the same period.

New Zealand: Winstone Wallboards says it is moving away from its gypsum wallboard allocation model as a market shortage has eased. The company’s general manger David Thomas said that its GIB Weatherline and GIB Barrierline products were no longer on allocation. It now intends to take all of its wallboard products out of allocation over the next few months. The subsidiary of Fletcher Building introduced an allocation model of wallboard supply in the summer of 2022 to cope with a national shortage.

Philippines: Knauf Gypsum Philippines has petitioned the Philippines Tariff Commission to reduce the import duty on imports of Omani gypsum to 0% of value. Currently, Oman’s gypsum enjoys a most favoured nation (MFN) reduced tariff rate of 3%. The Oman Daily Observer newspaper has reported that high gypsum wallboard demand has created short supply of gypsum in the Philippines, according to Knauf Gypsum Philippines. Beside the company’s wallboard operations, the raw material is also critical to cement production in the country.

The Philippines receives a minor share of Oman’s 8.74Mt/yr of natural gypsum exports. The Southeast Asian country has a housing backlog of 6m units.