OREANDA-NEWS. Gerdau was a finalist of the seventh edition of the SteelUniversity Challenge promoted by the World Steel Association. Our employees Alex Maia do Nascimento and Francisco Diego Araruna da Silva from Gerdau in Brazil, and Richard Zhang and Kyle Cornier, Gerdau employees in Canada, were the winners of the regional stage in the category Industry for the regions of Latin America and North America, respectively. The participants had the task of producing structural steel to be used with yellow goods (e.g. products such as bulldozers, backhoes, etc.) using an electric furnace at the lowest cost possible.

The SteelUniversity championship gathers academics and professionals involved in the steel industry with up to three years of experience to test their knowledge in metallurgy. This year's edition attracted 42,000 participants from 1,200 teams representing 37 countries.

Gerdau is the leader in the segment of long steel in the Americas and one of the main suppliers of special long steel in the world. With over 45,000 employees, it has industrial operations in 14 countries—in the Americas, Europe, and Asia—which together represent an installed capacity of over 25 million metric tons of steel per year. It is the largest recycler in Latin America and in the world, and transforms each year millions of tons of scrap steel, reinforcing its commitment to sustainable development in the regions where it operates. Gerdau is listed on the stock exchanges of Sao Paulo, New York, and Madrid and has over 140,000 shareholders.