Brazil-based steel producer Gerdau SA has reported its financial results for the second quarter and the first half of the current year.
In the second quarter, the net profit of the company was R$401 million ($104.4 million), down 27 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of 2012. In the first half of the year, Gerdau registered a net profit of R$561 million ($244 million), down 40.7 percent year on year. The net sales of Gerdau amounted to R$9.88 billion ($4.3 billion) in the second quarter, decreasing by 0.9 percent, while they declined by 0.7 percent to R$19.05 billion ($8.27 billion) in the first six months, both year on year.
Gerdau produced 4.65 million mt of crude steel in the second quarter, down 7.9 percent year on year. The company's crude steel output for the first half amounted to 9.05 million mt, decreasing by 9.3 percent compared to the first half of the previous year. Meanwhile, second quarter sales amounted to 4.63 million mt, decreasing by three percent year on year, mainly due to the lower exports from the Brazilian operations, which were partially redirected to the domestic market, especially in the case of semi-finished products . The company's sales in the first half were 9.2 million mt, down 3.3 percent, both year on year.
According to Gerdau's statement, in the second quarter the company's investments in fixed assets totaled R$635 million ($275.9 million), bringing overall investments in the first six months of the year to R$1.2 billion ($521.4 million). For the 2013-2017 period, Gerdau's investment plan calls for a total investment of approximately R$8.5 billion ($3.7 billion).
