Sheetrock is heavy. They ship it from China?
FL was also importing sheetrock from Germany during the boom times...
Ocean freight is relatively cheap per pound.
The stuff is a hazard to produce in the US because of the dust and the environmental and workplace safety rules in place around it. They can make it in China - with its weak to nonexistent safety standards and cheap labor both in the gypsum mines and the manufacturing plant - and ship it to the US and still be cheaper than the full cost of the domestic stuff.
And that, by the way, is why EVERYTHING is made in the China these days. They treat their employees as being expendable (and pay them as such) and pass the savings on to Americans.
I know that there is a USG plant in eastern Iowa where the gypsum mine and drywall plant are together. Transportation costs to the central Illinois market are sky high. Cannot fathom shipping this commodity
“Sheetrock is heavy. They ship it from China?”
There may have been a shortage of it at the time. Back in 2005 when we were at 2 million housing starts in the US, there were shortages of alot of commodity building items. Drywall, concrete, asphalt shingles and other items were in tight supply back then. It probably has more to do with lack of availability form North American producers to keep up with demand than buying something because it was cheap.
The US dollar was also alot higher then. Therefore, there might have been an opportunity to bring in drywall to port cities in the US. After that the weight a truck can carry will limit the distance it travels from the port and still be competitive.
At 600000 housing starts there are NO shortages of anything right now.