(With the subsequent American housing market collapse, Chinese drywall exports to the U.S. fell to just $507,000 in 2008 and are expected to drop even more this year.)
Among the exporters in 2006 was Taishan Gypsum Co., a large producer of phosphogypsum wallboard based in eastern Shandong province. Customs reports show that Taishan sent about 10 million pounds of drywall to the U.S. that year.
In interviews, Taishan executives said they were unclear about the raw ingredient in the exported drywall.
At another drywall maker, Yunnan Waste Use Building Materials Co., office director Zhang Wanwei acknowledged that his company focused on making wallboard with phosphogypsum. But he said his firm "was one of the few that bought the most advanced equipment to process phosphogypsum . . . because if not handled properly, the quality of these boards may not be so good. And they could contain materials that are bad for health."
Zhang declined to say whether the company exported gypsum boards to the U.S.
"I don't know exactly how much phosphogypsum we use, but in total we process several hundred tons of all kinds of gypsum every year," he said. "We can get raw materials for our products at very low prices because they are mainly industrial waste."
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don.lee@latimes.com
alana.semuels@latimes.com
