iSteelAsia.com eyeing Web domination

HONG KONG, March 15 (Reuters) -- The iSteelAsia.com portal aims to dominate online steel trading by capitalizing on the Asian steel market's rapid growth, the founder of the Web site said Wednesday.

Andrew Yao, chairman of Van Shung Chong Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong steelmaker, said Asia's annual steel trade totals $300 billion and accounts for 45 percent of the world's consumption.

Since December when trading began on the Web site, Asia's first steel exchange portal, more than 900 steel mills, traders, and end-users have joined as members, iSteelAsia.com executives said at a news conference.

The amount of steel traded on the site by the end of March is expected to total HK$200 million ($25 million) and the number of site "views" averaged 65,000 per month, they said.

"We want to build the dominant and leading vertical steel trading platform on the Internet ... cutting costs and improving efficiency," Yao said.

The portal has an exclusive agreement to receive data on China's steel market from the government's bureau of metals, Drina Yue, chief operating officer of iSteelAsia.com, said.

Yao said China's steel market is more open than the Japanese market with few steel companies dominating trade and is well suited to be served by iSteelAsia.com.

"The reception level in China has been high. The opportunities are enormous," he said.

Yao announced iSteelAsia.com has hired Scient Corp., a San Francisco-based consultancy that helps companies develop e-commerce strategies.

The portal offers customers help in financing through banking partner ABN AMRO and hopes to be able to offer online letter-of-credit services in the near future.

© 2000 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.