iSteelAsia.com in Beijing to Open New Era in China's Steel Industry

Hong Kong, 18th February 2000 -The steel trade took a great leap forward for the opening of the Year of the Dragon, as iSteelAsia.com successfully launched its Chinese version in Beijing, in a ceremony attended by over 200 international guests, among them representatives from government and research institutes, steel traders, investors, consumer products manufacturers and the media. They included Wu Jianchang, Vice Director of State Metallurgical Industry Bureau, Lin Yinsheng, Executive Director of the Foreign Affairs Department of the State Administration of Metallurgical Industry, Yang Xiaoyu, Director of Metallurgical Economic Research and Development at the State Administration of Metallurgical Industry, Liang Cai, Secretary General of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, Tian Yong Hong, Project Official of Sub-Council of Metallurgical Industry and Su Gen Qiang, Managing Director of Shougang Holding (Hong Kong) Ltd.

Mr. Andrew Yao, Chairman and Founder of iSteelAsia.com, said: "iSteelAsia.com creates an open and fair environment for suppliers and buyers, allowing them access to a wider market. China's steel trade is undergoing revolutionary changes with this low-cost, highly efficient form of doing business."

Mr Lin Yisheng stated that: "With the start of a new century, mankind sees an unprecedented era of fast and instant information. Global e-commerce presents opportunities and challenges for enterprises. iSteelAsia.com is a natural outcome of these changes. Its Chinese version actively promotes communication between our steel industry and the international community, thus expanding export trade for Chinese steel products. Although e-commerce for our steel industry is at a primitive stage at present, the transition from the traditional way of trading to the new form is inevitable and a path that our metal industries must go down on the way to development."

"For this, we thank iSteelAsia.com for providing our steel industry with new opportunities and approaches. I sincerely hope that this Web site will bring innovative changes to our steel industry."

iSteelAsia.com's first online trade was closed between Duferco Group of Switzerland and Shougang Concord in January 2000. Shougang stated: "Speaking from experience, we are satisfied with the services provided by ISA -fast, convenient, efficient. This form of fast and low-cost trading has enabled our company to increase efficiency."

Andrew Yao urged Chinese traders to register and to expand their business with e-commerce. He revealed that China is iSteelAsia.com's focus and that the company planned to organize seminars in the next months in Beijing and Shanghai. Other plans are under way to open markets in Japan, Korea and Turkey. More versions in Japanese and Korean will be added on the site, targeting 6,000 members by the end of 2000. iSteelAsia.com will sponsor a seminar on advanced steel strategy to be held in Beijing in May, in which Andrew Yao will be a keynote speaker on steel e-commerce.

About iSteelAsia.com
Limited Launched in December 1999, iSteelAsia.com (iSteelAsia) was Asia's first online exchange for trading in steel and steel products. It is the first of its kind to be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's GEM board in April 2000. Focused on the Asian steel community, iSteelAsia aims to offer an open and neutral marketplace for steel trading. Trading competitiveness and efficiency are optimised on iSteelAsia as players can access a full spectrum of buyers and sellers and timely market knowledge. iSteelAsia serves as a single point of contact offering financing, insurance, surveying, shipping and logistics services, providing members with a one-stop end-to-end steel trading.

To date, iSteelAsia has over 2,600 registered members who regularly use its online trading services and access into its online Reuters and Asia Information Resources News.