LatinNews Daily - 22 February 2024

*Brazil’s largest steel manufacturer, Gerdau, has released its latest report on financial results, posting quarterly profits of R$732m (US$148.45m) in the fourth quarter of last year and annual profits of R$6.85bn for 2023. The quarterly result marks a decrease of 54.0% compared to Q3 2023 and 45.1% from Q4 2022. The annual profits were down 40.9% from 2022. Gerdau’s sales volume saw quarterly and yearly decreases. In Q4 2023, 2.66m tonnes (t) of steel was sold, down 3.6% from the previous quarter and 0.6% compared to the same quarter in 2022. The total sales volume in 2023 came to 11.32m t, marking an annual decrease of 4.9%. The steelmaker attributed its declining performance to factors such as “steel imports under predatory competition conditions” exacerbating a “local competitive imbalance”. However, the company pointed to some positive signals for the future, such as the continuation of US government polices to “incentivise demand for steel” and the “phenomenon of companies relocating in the region” – reshoring or nearshoring. In its report, Gerdau also suggested that a recovery in Brazil’s car manufacturing sector could boost domestic steel demand and that it is monitoring market trends such as the rise of Chinese cars in Brazil.