Gerdau is exposed to various market risks, which involve the fluctuation of exchange rates, interest rates and also commodities. The Company uses derivatives and other financial instruments to reduce the impact of such risks on its financial assets and liabilities or future cash flows and earnings. Gerdau has established policies to assess market risks and to approve the use of derivate financial instruments transactions related to those risks. The Company enters into derivative financial instruments to manage the above-mentioned market risks and never for speculative purposes. Exchange Rate Risk This risk is related to the possibility of fluctuations in exchange rates affecting the amounts of financial assets or liabilities or of future cash flows and income. The Company assesses its exposure to the exchange rate by measuring the difference between the amount of its assets and liabilities in foreign currency. The Company understands that the accounts receivables originated from exports, its cash and cash equivalents denominated in foreign currencies and its investments abroad are more than equivalent to its liabilities denominated in foreign currency. Since the management of these exposures occurs at each operation level, if there is a mismatch between assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currency, the Company may contract derivative financial instruments in order to mitigate the effect of exchange rate fluctuations. Foreign currency sensitivity analysis As of December 31, 2025, the Company was primarily exposed to fluctuations between the Real and the Dollar. The sensitivity analysis performed by the Company considers the effects of a 5% increase or decrease between the Real and the Dollar on its unhedged debt (loans and financing), accounts receivable from exports from Brazil, and import suppliers (imports/exports). Fluctuations between the local currencies of other countries and the Dollar do not represent material exposures. In this analysis, for foreign currency variations, if the Real appreciates against the Dollar, this would represent gain of R$ 217,347 (gain of R$ 124,447 as of December 31, 2024), if the Real depreciates against the Dollar, this would represent an expense of the same value. As for foreign currency variations in imports and exports, if the Real appreciates against the Dollar, this would represent gain of R$ 13,370 (loss of R$ 44,777 as of December 31, 2024), if the Real depreciates against the Dollar, this would represent an expense of the same value. The net values of other assets and other liabilities in foreign currencies do not present significant risks of impacts due to fluctuations in the exchange rate. 110 Table of Contents Sensitivity analysis of currency forward contracts As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company has no exposure to forward contracts in US Dollars or Argentine Pesos against the US Dollar for any of its assets and liabilities. The US Dollar/Real forward contracts are intended to hedge asset and liability positions in US Dollars, and the mark-to-market effects of these contracts were recorded in the Consolidated Income Statement. Interest rate risk This risk arises from the effects of fluctuations in interest rates applied to the Company’s financial liabilities or assets and future cash flows and income. The Company evaluates its exposure to these risks: (i) comparing financial assets and liabilities denominated at fixed and floating interest rates and (ii) monitoring the variations of interest rates like SOFR and CDI. Accordingly, the Company may enter into interest rate swaps in order to reduce this risk. Interest rate sensitivity analysis The interest rate sensitivity analysis made by the Company considers the effects of an increase or reduction of 10 basis point (bps) on the average interest rate applicable to the floating part of its debt. The calculated impact, considering this variation in the interest rate totals R$ 43,547 as of December 31, 2025 (R$ 44,299 as of December 31, 2024) and would impact the Financial expenses account in the Consolidated Statements of Income. The specific interest rates to which the Company is exposed are related to the loans, financing, and debentures presented in Notes 15 and 16, and are mainly comprised by SOFR and CDI — Interbank Deposit Certificate. Price risk of commodities This risk is related to the possibility of changes in prices of the products sold by the Company or in prices of raw materials and other inputs used in the productive process. Since the Company operates in a commodity market, net sales and cost of sales may be affected by changes in the international prices of their products or materials. In order to minimize this risk, the Company constantly monitors the price variations in the domestic and international markets. Besides that, the Company may use derivative instruments for hedge purposes. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has exposure to commodity (energy) derivatives. The sensitivity analysis performed by the Company considers the effects of a 5% increase or decrease in the price of commodities, and their effects on the mark-to-market valuation of these derivatives. A 5% increase in the price of commodities represents revenue of R$ 4,130 (R$ 3,113 as of December 31, 2024), and a 5% decrease in the price of commodities represents an expense as of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024. The effects of the mark-to-market valuation of these derivatives were recorded in the Consolidated Income Statement. Credit risk This risk arises from the possibility of the Company not receiving amounts arising from sales to customers or investments made with financial institutions. In order to minimize this risk, the Company adopt the procedure of analyzing in details of the financial position of their customers, establishing a credit limit and constantly monitoring their balances. Regarding financial investments, the Company only carries out transactions with first-rate institutions and with low credit risk, as assessed by rating agencies and risk mitigation parameters defined in the Company’s internal guidelines. Capital management risk This risk comes from the Company’s choice in adopting a financing structure for its operations. The Company manages its capital structure, which consists of a ratio between the financial debts and its own capital (Equity) based on internal policies and benchmarks. The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) related to the “Capital Structure Management” objective are: WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital), Net Debt/EBITDA (Earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortization), Coverage Ratio of Net Financial Expenses (EBITDA/Net Financial Expenses) and Debt/Total Capitalization Ratio. Net Debt is formed by the principal of the debt reduced by cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments (Notes 4, 15 and 16). Total Capitalization is formed by the Total Debt (composed of the principal of the debt) and the Equity (Note 23). The Company may change its capital structure, according to economic and financial conditions, in order to optimize its financial leverage and debt management. At the same time, the Company seeks to improve its ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) through the implementation of working capital management and an efficient program of investments in property, plant and equipment. 111 Table of Contents Liquidity risk The Company’s management policy of indebtedness and cash on hand is based on using the committed lines and the currently available credit lines with or without a guarantee in export receivables for maintaining adequate levels of short, medium, and long-term liquidity.