LatinNews Daily - 6 November 2024

*Brazilian steel manufacturing company Gerdau has released its earnings report for the third quarter, which showed a net profit of R$1.43bn (US$244.71m). This marks a 51.5% increase compared to the previous quarter, but a 10.0% decrease compared to the profit registered in Q3 last year. Gerdau’s net profits for January-September totalled R$3.62bn, down 40.9% compared to the first three quarters of 2023. Steel sales in Q3 2024 came to 2.83m tonnes (t), up 4.3% in quarterly terms and up 2.7% year-on-year. However, the total sales figure for the first three quarters of 2024 came to 8.27m t, down 4.6% in yearly terms. In its latest report, Gerdau highlighted the efforts in recent months by the federal government to raise tariff rates on imports of steel and iron products, but the company also stated that Brazil’s steel industry “has not seen significant improvement” and declared that it is “continuing active discussions” with the government to implement new measures to benefit the sector.