Geographically diversified Strong market share and cost position in Brazil Increasingly benefiting from consolidation trends in North America Wide product scope in long steel products Cyclical and volatile industry Concentration in commodity-grade steel products Traditionally acquisitive and projecting significant capital expenditures for the next three years Intermittent import competition and volatile performance in North America Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' ratings on Gerdau S.A. reflect the company's exposure to the volatile and cyclical commodity long steel industry, which is peculiarly vulnerable to import competition in North America and to demand swings in Brazil; an acquisitive growth strategy that may cause some peaks of financial leverage in the future (even under disciplined target levels and despite the currently comfortable liquidity and
