SIC 3275 Gypsum Products

SIC 3275

Companies predominately employed in manufacturing plaster, plasterboard, and other gypsum products constitute the gypsum products industry. The manufacturers in this industry make products such as acoustical plaster, wallboard, cement, insulating plaster, orthopedic plaster (for casts), plaster of paris, and gypsum rock, lath, and tile.

NAICS CODE(S)

327420

Gypsum and Gypsum Product Manufacturing

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Gypsum product manufacturing is nearly synonymous with wallboard production, which represents more than 90 percent of industry sales. As such, the gypsum industry's fortunes are closely tied to those of the construction business. From the late 1990s construction boom to the slowdown in new construction in the early 2000s and the general economic decline of those years, and to increased construction levels during the mid-2000s, the gypsum industry has likewise fluctuated. In 2003, the shipments from this industry were valued at more than $4.5 billion.

The United States remains the world's largest producer and consumer of wallboard. About 75 percent of the gypsum consumed in the United States is used in wallboard. Forty percent of wallboard products are used in new residential construction. Another 35 percent of industry output is used for remodeling and repair, while 10 percent goes into new commercial construction. The remaining 15 percent of the market consists of numerous miscellaneous applications, such as mobile home walls.

ORGANIZATION AND STRUCTURE

Gypsum, or hydrated calcium sulfate, has been an important construction material for centuries. It is mined from hardened ocean and saline-lake brine deposits. Natural supplies of the material are abundant, particularly in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, and Britain. The largest U.S. gypsum-producing states are Oklahoma, Iowa, Texas, Michigan, Nevada, California, and Indiana. Companies that only mine gypsum without producing finished or semi-finished goods aren't considered part of this industry, however.

Companies in this industry calcine, or dehydrate, gypsum for use in wallboard manufacturing. Calcining is an intermediate process that occurs after grinding gypsum into a powder. The process is necessary in order to reconstitute a mineral paste for use in wallboard. The...

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