Gerdau S.A.

My name is Renata, Head of Investor Relations, and participating in our video conference, I'm the CEO of Gerdau Gustavo Werneck and the CFO and RO, Rafael Japor. We would like to inform you that this video conference is being recorded and it will be available and the company's IR website where the complete material of this earnings release is available. You can also download the presentation using the chat icon. We would like to remind you that the broadcast of this video conference is being done with simultaneous translation through the tool available in During the presentation of the company, all participants will have their microphones disabled. Following the presentation, we will begin the Q&A session. Analysts and investors can send their questions in advance using the Q&A button, and they can open the camera if they prefer during the Q&A session. We would like to highlight the information in this presentation. and other information related to this video conference, related to Gerdau's business prospects, projections, and others.

Good morning, all of you.

Hello, everyone. I hope you're all well. And thank you for the opportunity to join us today during this video conference to announce Geerdau's results for the second quarter of 2023. Next to me is our CFO, Rafael Japor. And for both of us, it's always a pleasure to talk to you about our performance and also clarify issues that may arise during our presentation. I would like to start by talking about the macro business environment, the general results, and right afterwards, I will give you more details about our business operations. Right after there, Shapur will talk about our financial performance. And at the end, I will give you some more details about our ESG agenda. And at the end, we will both be available to talk to you about any points that you want to elaborate further. I would like to start the second slide talking about the macro environment in which Gerdau operates. Throughout the second quarter of 2023, and amid a very challenging scenario, we continue to deliver very consistent results based on a model of geographic diversification of assets in the Americas in our flexible production routes to factories. China remains having very high steel production, very close to historic levels, while at the same time, measures of stimulus to boost steel consumption, particularly coming from the construction sector, are not yet reflecting in the dynamics of the market. In view of the scenario of excess steel production in China, China's steel exports total about approximately 90 tons a year. even a bit of backdrop of import-restricted markets, such as the United States and Europe, which has impacted the markets where we operate, in particular Brazil. In this next slide, even before we start talking about Gerdau's financial results in the second quarter, I would like to say that we came to the end of the first half of the year with an accident frequency rate of 0.66. And this is below the 0.76 rate recorded in consolidated 2022, which represented the lowest rate ever recorded in our historic series. This performance reinforces our Therefore, as part of our digital transformation journey, we have invested in several artificial intelligence and industry 4.0 initiatives in our operations to improve our monitoring of critical tasks and prevent accidents and enforce the safety and active care among our employees and partners. Now, in the next two slides, I'll briefly bring you some highlights that reflect the results recorded by Goddard in the second quarter. Later on, Jaipur will provide details of our financial performance. Even in the face of a challenging global macro scenario with a decline in steel consumption, as I mentioned earlier, Gerdau posted between April and June of 2023 another quarter with financial consistent results, with the best adjusted EBITDA for the period, which amounted to 3.8 billion BRLs. This performance reflects the continuity of the company's sustainable growth strategy focused on the continuous generation of value for our estate,