Gustavo Werneck

Gustavo Werneck serves as CEO of Gerdau, a company controlled by the Gerdau Johannpeter family since its founding in 1901 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Gerdau is the largest producer of long steel (rebar, structural shapes, wire rod, merchant bars) in the Americas, with operations in Brazil, the United States, Canada, Argentina, Colombia, and other South American countries. Total crude steel capacity exceeds 30 million tonnes. Gerdau's competitive advantage lies in its electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking technology, which uses recycled scrap metal as the primary raw material rather than iron ore. EAF steelmaking is inherently more flexible (production can be adjusted to demand more quickly than blast furnace operations), less capital-intensive, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint than traditional integrated steelmaking. With approximately 70% of Gerdau's steel produced from scrap, the company is well-positioned for the growing emphasis on lower-carbon steel. The company's largest market is Brazil (construction and infrastructure), followed by the United States (infrastructure, manufacturing, energy). Gerdau's North American operations have been a strong performer, benefiting from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, reshoring of manufacturing, and data center construction. Key stock drivers include steel prices in Brazil and North America, construction activity (both residential and infrastructure), scrap metal costs, Brazilian economic conditions, US infrastructure spending, BRL/USD exchange rate, import competition (particularly from Chinese steel in Brazil), and the global steel supply-demand balance.