Shane Brealey says taskforce is making good progress. Photo / supplied

The taskforce established by Housing Minister Megan Woods to investigate ways to resolve the plasterboard shortage had made significant steps, a member says.

Developer/builder Shane Brealey of Simplicity and NZ Living said the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was encouraging councils to make it easier to get non-Gib products approved.

"MBIE has issued guidance to territorial authorities confirming imported equivalent plasterboards that are accepted as minor variations in the New Zealand market."

That should make it quicker and easier to get consent for buildings using alternative plasterboard products, he said.

"As far as taskforces go, it's already been effective in terms of what it's charged to do. We've been working well with MBIE who have been very helpful," Brealey said today.

"This is about making sure territorial authorities understand what equivalent products should be accepted - not so much removing the word Gib from consent documents."

Considerable volumes of plasterboard were also being imported to ease the shortage, he said.

"The private sector has rallied lately and is importing large quantities of plasterboard in response to the shortfall. More than 100 containers ordered and on their way in the past month alone.

"Steps are now being taken to ensure New Zealand consumers have more choice and protection against future failures by a monopoly supplier," he said referring to Winstone Wallboards with an estimated 94 per cent market share of this country's plasterboard market.

The taskforce had last met on Tuesday this week and Brealey expressed satisfaction with changes since it was formed last month.

Brealey highlighted high plasterboard costs and got Thai imported plasterboard much cheaper and faster than Gib.

Thai board cost $11/sheet in shipping costs. But even then a standard Thai board sheet was only $19.50/sheet compared to Gib at $25/sheet, Brealey said.

"For standard board, [Thai] is 20 per cent cheaper and for moisture-resistant, it's around 40 per cent cheaper when we buy in the larger volumes we are," Brealey said of Bangkok plasterboard compared with Winstone Wallboards' product.

Gib's pricing has come under less attack than its shortage.

Brealey said it took at least eight months to get Gib whereas the Thai plasterboard took only eight weeks to arrive.

He was able to speak freely about the issues and the taskforce, he said, because the minister was encouraging open communication.

Fletcher Building subsidiary Winstone Wallboards has also taken a number of steps to help resolve the shortage. It has been running its Penrose and Opawa Rd productions in Christchurch's Hillsborough 24/7. It also brought forward changes to the Felix St plant in Penrose to be more efficient.

As well, it has resumed importing plasterboard from Australia to supply New Zealand.

"Winstone Wallboards has scaled up our production significantly as demand has surged, this includes operating our two manufacturing facilities 24 hours a day seven days a week to produce about 700,000sq m of plasterboard per week. To put that in context, this is enough plasterboard to line about 1000 average-sized New Zealand homes or fill at least 275 shipping containers per week," the company says.

A Fletcher Building spokesperson said: "Winstone Wallboards continues to be deeply focused on working through the plasterboard supply demands."

"The recent investment in an upgrade to our Auckland plant has allowed us to further lift daily production of Gib plasterboard. We are now despatching 3.25 million sqm of board per month.

"We are seeing some positive trends which we believe indicate that our allocation model is beginning to show true levels of demand for plasterboard."

One of these trends includes a decrease in order rescheduling from their Direct to Site delivery service as builders advised their sites were not actually ready for delivery.

"In May/June our Direct to Site delivery service was experiencing up to 25 per cent order rescheduling... in July this number has dropped to 18 per cent and is continuing to slowly ease," the spokesperson said.

"In addition, PlaceMakers' emergency supply pool process is progressing well. Since launching, PlaceMakers has averaged around 16 applications per week, all of which have broadly been accepted and to date have collectively amounted to circa 5000 sqm per week of board.

"All of this is consistent with the view we expressed to the market last month that we expect equilibrium to be restored around October this year. We want to reassure the market we will continue to run our plants continuously until our new plant commences production in May 2023."

On June 21, Woods announced her ministerial taskforce to give advice and troubleshoot the plasterboard shortages.

Other taskforce members are Naylor Love chief executive Rick Herd, Master Builders chief executive Dave Kelly, The Warehouse founder and ex-chairman Sir Stephen Tindall, 2degrees founder Tex Edwards and a local government representative.

Brealey said the taskforce's concluding time "will be sooner rather than later because there's not a lot more we'll be able to do".

Woods said the taskforce would troubleshoot regulation of alternative plasterboard products, including examining whether legislative change or regulatory change was needed.

It would also look at ways to streamline the use of products that are untested here, explore new distribution models, provide advice on the best approach to consenting and act as a forum for related supply chain concerns, Woods said on June 21.

"While Gib is well-known, it is not the only plasterboard available," Woods stressed last month.

The Building Code allowed for the use of any product which meets performance specifications, she stressed.

The taskforce had a very clear aim - to increase sector productivity as quickly as possible, and to remove any unnecessary barriers, including around certification, to facilitate the use of different types of plasterboard, she said.