Global Gypsum Newsletter

Issue: GGM72 / 03 March 2026

Headlines


France: Saint-Gobain recorded sales of €46.5bn in 2025 a stable figure year-on-year despite a negative currency effect of 2.3%. Group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were €7.2bn, up by 3% in local currencies.

Since 2018, Saint-Gobain has divested assets with annual sales of €10bn and acquired new ones generating €7bn/yr. Earnings contributions now break down as follows: 36% Asia; 33% Western Europe; 31% North America. It targeted the construction chemicals sector, with 39 new acquisitions throughout the five-year period, including Cemix, Chryso, FOSROC and GCP. Its low-carbon product range spans 400 different products. In 2025, Saint-Gobain reduced its Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions by 35% against a 2017 baseline. It consumed 70% decarbonised electricity, up from 39% in 2021.


Romania: TeraSteel, a subsidiary of Ireland-based Kingspan, has inaugurated its new €20m, 1.8Mm²/yr Lehliu-Gară insulation plant in Călărași County. The plant will produce stone wool, polyisocyanurate (PIR)-core panels. It will serve Southern Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Türkiye, Ukraine and Central European markets. It will also supply Saudi Arabia and the UAE via the Black Sea port of Constanța, 150km from the plant. Romania-Insider News has reported that TeraSteel received €8m in government funding for the Lehliu-Gară insulation plant’s construction.

TeraSteel already produces sandwich panels in Jud, Bistrița-Năsăud County, and in Leskovac, Serbia.


UK: Knauf Insulation is considering mothballing the oldest and smallest glass wool insulation line at its St Helens plant on Merseyside, amid ‘lower-than-expected’ residential construction activity. Local press has reported that the producer is in consultations with staff and unions, with 30 roles at risk, before taking any final decision.

Industrial Performance Director Darren Holt said "There is now excess manufacturing capacity for cured glass mineral wool insulation."

Knauf Insulation added 25,000t/yr of new roll, slab and blowing wool capacity at the St Helens plant, following a €45.9m in 2024.


Russia: TechnoNICOL is investing €81.1m in the construction of a stone wool insulation plant and an extruded polystyrene (XPS) plant at the Krasny Sulin Industrial Park in Sulin, Rostov Oblast. Interfax News has reported that construction of both plants will conclude by July 2026. The project also includes a 20MW power plant to follow by the end of 2026. 198 people will be employed across the site.


Russia: TechnoNICOL Far East is building a new 1Mm³/yr stone wool lamellas line at its insulation plant in the Khabarovsk Advanced Special Economic Zone in Khabarovsk Krai. The line will produce lamellas for use in the production of insulation sandwich panels. It will target potential customers in the Russian Far East market, as well as in China. The Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation has reported that TechnoNICOL Far East plans to invest €2.33m in the Khabarovsk insulation plant in 2026, down slightly from €2.55m in 2025.

Plant Director Nikita Yakovlev said "Part of the 2026 investments will be used to improve product quality, reduce costs and implement environmental initiatives. The company will also develop its own IT infrastructure and continue projects to improve labour safety and working conditions."


Spain: Saint-Gobain Isover has launched Tipcheck, an industrial insulation energy audit service aligned with EN 16247 and ISO 50002 standards. The standards evaluate the performance of industrial insulation systems and calculate potential energy savings, cost reductions and CO₂ emissions reductions. Servimedia News has reported that Saint-Gobain’s local mining subsidiary Industrias el Cuarzo – Incusa piloted the service on drying units at its Segovia site. It has since carried out audits at 60 industrial facilities across Spain.


Canada: UpSolv has commenced commercial-scale production of recycled polystyrene resin at its Montréal facility. It will now proceed to build a full-scale 11,000t plant in Estrie, Quebec, by mid-2027. UpSolv says that its resin offers viable consistency, processability and performance for use in expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation production. The company invited producers and other innovators to secure off-take agreements and integrate its sustainable resin into their products.

CEO Nathalie Morin said "In today's market, sustainability and performance can no longer be treated as trade offs."


Europe: Hungary-based Masterplast and construction firm Market Építő have cancelled plans for new a stone wool insulation plant in Central Europe. The companies previously announced a ‘strategic cooperation’ to build mineral wool plants in Hungary or Serbia in December 2022. MTI EcoNews has reported that Masterplast made the decision based on a ‘changed business environment,’ creating a 'deterioration of the key conditions’ for the investment.

Additionally, Masterplast will discontinue production at its Calerno expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation plant in Italy due to 'unfavourable' market conditions. At the same time, it will restart EPS production at its Kál insulation plant in Hungary, in order to target the local market there. It will also consider a possible expansion of its Szerencs glass wool plant Hungary.

Masterplast said "The strategic focus will continue to be on glass wool production, its technological development and capacity expansion."


Türkiye: Murat Savcı has stepped into the role of CEO at Saint-Gobain Türkiye. Savcı will manage local subsidiaries operating under 12 brands and serve on the boards of Saint-Gobain Weber Türkiye, Chryso Türkiye, Saint-Gobain Abrasives Türkiye and joint ventures İzocam and Dalsan. He will aim to strengthen the company's integrated solutions leadership in line with the group’s Lead & Grow strategy. Savcı takes over from Aykut Aydoğan, who will leave the company after serving in the role since September 2021.

Murat Savcı brings over 25 years’ building materials industry experience to the position. He has sat on the boards of İzocam, İzoder and the Association of Turkish Construction Material Producers, and was İzocam managing director from February 2020. Before that, he served as general manager of Baumit Türkiye, managing partner at AzeYapı Construction and project manager at Meuter Architekturbüro and Robert Perthel Bauunternehmung in Germany.

Savcı said "Türkiye has significant potential in the field of construction and infrastructure solutions. In the coming period we will take steps to make the best use of this potential with our strong teams. We will further develop our reduced-CO₂ and high value-added solutions, and further strengthen our business approach that creates value for society, the environment and our stakeholders by offering more integrated services to our customers."


Norway: BEWI has inaugurated a 3500t/yr expanded polystyrene (EPS) recycling plant at its Fredrikstad EPS and extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation plant, enabling on-site collection, processing and integration of recycled EPS in the plant’s insulation production. The plant will process post-consumer and post-industrial insulation and packaging from the surrounding region.


Denmark/Poland: Rockwool has signed a 10-year hybrid corporate power purchase agreement with fellow Denmark-based company Eurowind Energy for the supply of 70GWh/yr of electricity solar and wind sites in Poland. Renewables Now News has reported that that supply will commence from mid-2028, following the completion of Eurowind Energy’s upcoming the 14MW Miroslawiec wind farm and Marulewy solar power plant. Construction is scheduled to commence later in 2026.


Australia: Swinburne University of Technology researchers have developed a novel insulation using fungi grown with shredded mattress foam, Tech Xplore News has reported. The fungal roots in the foam reportedly form a lightweight material with comparable thermal resistance to current commercial insulation products and capable of withstanding temperatures up to 1000°C.

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