Gypsum industry news

US: USG is celebrating the centennial anniversary of its Sheetrock brand, developed as the world's first wallboard panel in 1917. To observe the anniversary USG is hosting celebrations across North America with its employees, dealers and customers. Limited quantities of commemorative products celebrating the anniversary will also be shared with customers and dealers.

"From the first simple wallboard panel developed 100 years ago to the breadth of high-performing panels available today, USG has led the industry in innovation," said Jennifer Scanlon, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of USG Corporation. "We are thrilled to celebrate a century of excellence and product leadership. We are proud that USG's Sheetrock brand is one of the world's most recognised brands."

Kazakhstan: JSC ZhambylGypsum has started operation of a gypsum unit and a calcium carbonate unit at a production site in the Zhambyl region. The project cost around US$78m and each unit has a production capacity of 0.27Mt/yr, according to InterFax. The production units are intended to become part of a larger gypsum plant that will be built at a later date.

Argentina: Sales of gypsum wallboard have fallen by 6.8% year-on-year in 2016, according to data from the National Statistics and Censuses Institute (INDEC). Overall, the domestic construction sector declined by 12.7% in 2016.

US: SGK, a division of Matthews International Corporation, has created a global, unified packaging system for USG Boral. USG Boral hired SGK to brand its varied processes and brands packaging into one core and consistent master brand. The common goal was to unify 14 categories across 12 markets and 13 businesses into one cohesive efficient packaging system.

To prepare for the branding exercise, the USG Boral and SGK teams conducted audit sessions within the different markets and spoke to a range of stakeholders, architects, builders, contractors, distributors and end users. The aim was to create a unified portfolio architecture that allows for future 'premiumization,' whilst optimising brand recognition and product navigation. The new packaging design is intended to allow easy navigation of product types through vivid colours and bold typography. It also includes anti-counterfeiting measures.

"Our partnership with SGK has been a fascinating journey in designing a new, cohesive packaging system for our diverse portfolio across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets. The system manages to convey the union of USG Boral's premium positioning and best-in-class building products technology, manufacturing and distribution footprint. We are now becoming one USG Boral across 12 different markets and cultures throughout Asia, Australia and the Middle East," said Jeremy Verstraete, Marketing Director, USG Boral.

US: The Industrial Packaging division of International Paper has seen its sales fall by 2% year-on-year to US$14.2bn from US$14.5bn in the same period in 2015. Its operating profit fell by 11% to US$1.65bn from US$1.85bn. Overall sales volumes rose slightly to 9.4Mt from 9.3Mt. Paper used for gypsum production rose by 17% to 181,000t from 155,000t. In North America the company blamed the falling profits on fewer shipping days, higher input costs and higher operating costs.