Gypsum industry news

India: USG Boral has held a ground breaking event for a new 30Mm² gypsum wallboard plant that it is building at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. The project has an investment of US$39m. The new plant will be operated by local subsidiary USG Boral Building Products India. The site is expected to become operational by the end of 2019. It will create over 100 new jobs. It joins USG Boral’s 9Mm² wallboard plant at Khushkhera, New Delhi.

"This facility offers us the ability to significantly increase our operations in India and provide our customers in the region with the best plasterboard products," said Frederic de Rougemont, the chief executive officer (CEO) of USG Boral.

Spain: Saint-Gobain plans to invest Euro120m over the next three years in its local subsidiary. In an interview with the Cinco Dias newspaper, Gianni Scotti, the chief executive officer (CEO) for Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and North Africa warned against rising electricity costs in the country. The bulk of the investment will go towards upgrading the Fábrica de Quinto wallboard plant in Zaragoza.

Mauritania: Mauritania exported 100,000t of gypsum in 2017 to markets in West and Central Africa. It was sent to Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the Pan African News Agency. The country produces 200,000t/yr of gypsum, of which 15% is turned into plaster. The remaining 85% is used by the local cement industry or exported by land to Mali or by sea via the Port of Nouakchott.

Oman: Northern Ireland’s Telestack has won a Euro5.7m deal to supply a mobile shiploading system to the Port of Salalah. The system will be used to load gypsum, limestone, and cement clinker and will be operational later in 2018, according to the Irish News newspaper. The project is part of an on-going Euro17bn government infrastructure investment to support mining, quarrying and the cement industry. It is Telestack’s largest single order to date.

Uzbekistan: On 7 July 2018 German wallboard producer Knauf will launch courses in Uzbekistan to teach construction workers how to use dry mixtures and plasterboard. The courses will be held in Knauf’s specialised training centre in the capital Tashkent.

Nezom Saidmakhmutkhujaev, a Knauf representative, will show the audience how to finish walls with plasterboard, build interior partitions, insulate main walls, work with different types of metal profiles, use dry mixes for plastering concrete, brick, cement and expanded polystyrene surfaces and how to avoid common mistakes when using finishing materials.

The courses will be held in an interactive form with the opportunity to ask questions and the opportunity to apply knowledge in practice during demonstrations.