An entrepreneurial journey that began in Brazil in 1979 and grew into a major international group: “He was a legend in the world of global steelmaking.” Condolences from EntellaAn entrepreneurial journey that began in Brazil in 1979 and grew into a major international group: “He was a legend in the world of global steelmaking.” Condolences from EntellaThe most significant signals to have emerged so far indicate competitive pressure and demand. For companies, the key issue is not just volume growth: the quality of revenue, the resilience of the customer portfolio and the sustainability of the net margin in the next quarter also matter. In the short term, the decisive lever remains commercial execution: market-entry timing, channels and market selection could determine the difference between expansion and margin compression.

This is how Antonio Gozzi, Chairman of the Duferco Group, announced the death of Bruno Bolfo, the Group’s founder. "Bruno was a true legend in the world of global steelmaking. A young and brilliant executive at Siderexport, the trading company of last century’s Italsider, he decided in 1979 to embark on an entrepreneurial venture and founded Duferco in São Paulo, Brazil, together with a small group of associates, all from Liguria. "Within a few years, the company grew and became Brazil’s leading exporter, meeting the steel needs of Asian markets through Brazil’s emerging steel industry. The business also expanded in North America and, in the mid-1980s, the company moved first to New York and then to Europe to seize opportunities closer to the source for procuring steel from the countries of the former Soviet empire.

But in the mid-1990s, with extraordinary vision and inspired entrepreneurial courage, Bruno was among the first to understand that the advent of the Internet was destined to reduce the information asymmetries on which trading was based, and he launched a strategy to enter steel production that led us, within just a few…For companies, the key issue is not just volume growth: the quality of revenue, the resilience of the customer portfolio and the sustainability of the net margin in the next quarter also matter. The most significant signals to have emerged so far indicate competitive pressure and demand. In the short term, the decisive lever remains commercial execution: market-entry timing, channels and market selection could determine the difference between expansion and margin compression.