OREANDA-NEWS. Gerdau believes that the growth and sustainability of a company are directly linked to building relations of mutual benefit with its chain of businesses, employees, and communities. Inca, a Gerdau joint venture in Dominican Republic, trained 23 employees of 18 companies in safety, inventory, finances and formalization. Training aimed at bringing the company closer to scrap suppliers and motivating entrepreneurs to increase productivity and become more competitive. In 2013, in addition to the Dominican Republic, Gerdau will promote supplier development programs for scrap suppliers in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil.

Gerdau Institute, the arm responsible for the Company's social responsibility policies and guidelines, directs investments to the development of customers and suppliers through programs that promote excellence in management and entrepreneurship, creating shared values for its entire supply chain.

Gerdau is the leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the largest suppliers of special long steel in the world. It has more than 45,000 employees and industrial operations in 14 countries with operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, which together represent an installed capacity of more than 25 million metric tons of steel per year. Gerdau is the largest recycler in Latin America and around the world and transforms millions of metric tons of scrap into steel every year. Gerdau is listed on the stock exchanges of Sao Paulo, New York and Madrid, and has approximately 140,000 shareholders.