Despite its many uses, gypsum is mainly used in the production of wallboard in North America. Wallboard consumption has been rampant in recent years resulting in boom times for producers. Prices hit record levels as manufacturers struggled to keep pace with demand. The construction and start-up of new greenfield capacity swung markets out of kilter in 2000, precipitating a nosedive in pricing, compounded by the first signs of a market restructure as global industry players bring their guns to bear on the US market. With a number of modern, efficient, synthetic gypsum-fed plants in operation is seems only a matter of time before older plants are retired. The question on everyone's minds is which plants and where? The fundamentals of the market remain extremely solid, with a buoyant construction industry benefiting from continued high volume of housing starts.
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