During an earnings call with analysts this week, Gerdau said it expects the Brazilian economy will not recover until 2018, as the company still sees a challenging scenario for the ongoing year.
The company’s CEO, Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, said the company sees “positive signs” that point to a recovery by 2018. He added that the still-challenging scenario in Brazil won’t affect the company’s investment decisions.
Gerdau expects to keep investments at a similar level as 2016, when investments reached about BRL 1.3 billion. Likewise, guidance for investment in 2018 should also be similar to that of 2017.
Johannpeter said Gerdau’s use of its installed capacity worldwide is about 65-70 percent.