Earnings rise 17 percent for Gerdau

Porto Alegre, Brazil-based Gerdau, one of the world's largest producers of steel for the construction industry, reported Thursday net income of 713 million reais (US$401 million) in Q3 up 17 percent from the same quarter a year ago and up significantly from 503 million reais in Q2 of this year. While the severe depreciation of the Brazilian real negatively impacted earnings for other Brazilian companies such as Vale, Usiminas and CSN in Q3, Gerdau did not say that the real's weakening adversely affected its profit margins during the quarter.

In Q3, raw steel production for Gerdau increased to about 5 million metric tons, a 14 percent sequential increase, and rolled steel product production rose 16 percent.