Gypsum industry news

US: Guillermo Gutierrez has been appointed the Vice President of Investor Relations at International Paper with effect from 1 July 2017. He will report to Glenn Landau, the senior vice president and chief financial officer. He succeeds Jay Royalty, who has been named vice president and general manager, Foodservice.

Gutierrez, aged 45 years, joined International Paper in 1994 and has held roles of increasing responsibility in finance, sales, marketing, supply chain and general management. He currently serves as Regional Managing Director, EMEA Packaging. Gutierrez earned a Bachelors degree in finance from Tulane University in 1994 and an MBA from the University of Miami in 2001. Guillermo and his family will relocate from Madrid, Spain to Memphis, US.

US: Eagle Materials' sales revenue rose by 6% year-on-year to US$1.21bn in its financial year to 31 March 2017 from US$1.14bn in the same period in 2016. The building materials producer completed its acquisition of Cemex's Fairborn cement plant in Ohio with associated assets in February 2017 and this contributed to its cash flow in the period. The group's gypsum wallboard sales volumes rose by 4% to 231m³ from 222m³ despite a fall in volumes in the fourth quarter.

Peru: Eternit Perú plans to spend around US$8.7m towards security, technology and plant productivity by 2020. Over half of this investment, US$4.4m, will be spent in 2017, according to the El Comercio newspaper. The building materials producer intends to double its gypsum wallboard business by 2020 and it has started a new marketing campaign to support this aim. It has recently won a government tender to build 2600 temporary homes using its wallboard system and it also plans to start exporting products to New Zealand in the short term.

Chile: Knauf has acquired Novochile for an undisclosed amount. The purchase includes a 10Mm²/yr gypsum wallboard plant in La Serana and gypsum mineral reserves. The plant supplies central and northern Chile and it will compliment Knauf's plant in Argentina. It will be the seventh that it operates in Latin America.

Canada: The government has opened its Drywall Support Program for applications until the end of May 2017. This program provides drywall contractors and builders in Western and Northern Canada with compensation for elevated drywall costs due to anti-dumping duties imposed on imported drywall from the US, according to Canadian Newswire. The initiative is also intended to homeowners in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by the 2016 wildfires and are now facing higher rebuilding costs. The US$9m scheme will be administered by Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.