Gypsum Facts...

Because of the concentrated market in the British Isles, the GPDA does not collect statistics.

In general terms:-

Total value of the gypsum sales in Britain and Ireland is around £600 million.
Total production in Great Britain of gypsum (natural and synthetic) in 2000 was reported as being 3 million metric tons. Ireland 0.5 million metric tonnes.
UK annual production of plaster is around 700 million kg (more than 60 million bags) and over 200 million square metres of plasterboard.
UK per capita consumption in 2001 is forecast at 12 kg of plaster and 3.5 sq. metres of plasterboard.
In the UK direct employment in the gypsum industry is around 2,500 with over 20,000 indirectly employed (merchants, delivery, installation etc.).

Worldwide gypsum production in 2000 is reported as being 106 million tons (2001 estimated 110 m tons), although production in developing countries are not reported. 90 countries produced gypsum, of which 6 accounted for 57% of Worldwide production. Over 110 million metric tons of synthetic gypsum is generated worldwide (Roskill information Services Ltd. 2000).
The USA leads the World in gypsum production, in 2000 accounting for 18.5% of reported global output. An average new American home contains more that 7.31 metric tons of gypsum or, in other terms, more than 571 square metres of gypsum wallboard (Mineral information Institute 2001).
World production of gypsum wallboard (plasterboard) in 2000 was at least 5.6 billion square meters produced in more than 250 plasterboard plants, of which about 50% are located in the USA.
As a low value, high bulk product drawn from widely distributed deposits, 80% of gypsum is used in the country where it is mined. The World’s largest known deposit of gypsum is found on the west coast of Australia.