US: Owens Corning has reported second quarter 2014 profits of US$21m, down from US$49m in 2013. Its net sales were US$1.36bn, up slightly from US$1.35bn in 2013. Chairman and CEO Mike Thaman said that the insulation and composites business units met expectations for the first half of 2014, offsetting weaker financial performance in its roofing division.

France: Saint-Gobain has named Dirk de Meulder as director of Isover in France and CEO of Eurocoustic France. Dirk de Meulder, aged 54, started his career at the glass materials business of Saint-Gobain in Belgium. In 2009, he joined Isover as director general in Sweden and Denmark.

Vietnam: The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has proposed that the government should add asbestos, which is widely used to produce roofing sheets in Vietnam, to the list of toxic chemicals subject to a full ban. There are 36 producers of asbestos cement (AC) roofing sheets in Vietnam, with an annual production capacity of 100Mm² of roofing sheets.

Vietnam has used asbestos since the 1960s and the country is among the world's 10 largest users of asbestos, consuming and importing some 60,000t/yr. More than 90% is used to manufacture AC roofing sheets, while the rest is for the production of car brakes and thermal insulation.

Deputy health minister Nguyen Thanh Long has said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) and international cancer research agencies have warned that all types of asbestos can cause lung, larynx and ovarian cancer, as well as mesothelioma and asbestosis. Asbestosis, a disease of the lungs caused by inhaling asbestos fibres, has been recognised in Vietnam as an occupational disease eligible for compensation since 1976. Ministry research has shown that people living near an area where asbestos is used, or those living under a roof made from asbestos, can also be affected.

The Research Institute of Technology for Machinery under the Ministry of Industry and Trade have developed a non-asbestos roofing sheet production line. Polyvinyl alcohol synthetic fibre (PVA) is used to replace the asbestos, while pulp additives increase stickiness. Prices of non-asbestos roofing sheets are 10 - 15% higher than those made from asbestos.

Germany: Austria's Austrotherm has inaugurated its first manufacturing base in Wittenberge, Brandenburg, Germany. The new plant for extruded polystyrene (XPS) required a Euro40m investment and will employ 70 people. The production capacity was not disclosed. The Austrotherm Group, which has 18 production units in 11 countries, reported a turnover of Euro250m in 2013.