Gerdau S.A.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us at Gerdau's third quarter earnings release. I'm Mariana Dutra, head of IR. Here we have with us our CEO, Gustavo Bernecki, and Rafael Japor, Gerdau's CFO. This webcast has simultaneous translation into English, and you can choose the language of your choice by clicking in the globe icon in the bottom part of your screen. During this presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode, and right after that, we will initiate the Q&A session. Analysts and investors should also be on the queue by using the raise hand icon. All of the forward-looking statements are beliefs from the company based on information currently available. Forward-looking statements are not guaranteed of performance and depend on circumstances that may and may not occur. Now, I would like to turn the floor over to Gustavo to begin the presentation. Gustavo, you may proceed.

Thank you, Mari.

Good morning, everyone. And I hope you are well. And thank you very much for joining us for another earnings release call. We will briefly comment on the highlights of the quarter. And also, we will talk about the outlook for our operations. But this time, we will allow more time for the Q&A session. First of all, I would like to point out that we ended the third quarter of 2024 with an injury and accident frequency rate of 1.58. It's the best track record in the last, you know, 123 years. I reinforce our commitment to people's health and safety. And as you know, this has always been our priority. We ended the third quarter with an adjusted EBITDA of 3 billion BRLs, mainly reflecting the progress of our cost reduction initiatives and the optimization of our assets in Brazil. Even against the backdrop of an oversupply of steel on the world market and uncertainties in the global macroeconomic environment, Gerdau's shipments grew both quarter-and-quarter and year-on-year, underscoring the successful execution of our commercial and operating strategy. Speaking about Brazil in particular, we recorded an increase in steel demand in the domestic market in the third quarter. Despite the improved domestic demand, our shipments remain impacted due to the excessive steel imports into the country, even with the mixed trade defense system called a quota tariff or a tariff rate. This has not bringing about the expected results and it should be constantly improved by the federal government. The monthly average of steel imports in the first nine months of 2024 was almost 80% higher than the historical average. We have seen with astonishment a large volume of imported steel entering through cities like Manaus, showing how steel is being rerouted to other regions of Brazil in order to avoid payment of the required import taxes. I will now turn the floor over to Japor for the financial highlights.