Asia's First Steel Exchange Vertical Portal
iSteelAsia.com Expands Presence in China Market

(Beijing, May 9, 2000) The world's first listed steel exchange vertical portal, iSteelAsia.com (HKSE stock code: 8080), announced in Beijing today that it is making significant moves to expand its presence in the China market. As the first comprehensive B2B steel exchange vortal in the Asia Pacific region, iSteelAsia.com participated in the 7th International Metallurgical Industry Exhibition held in Beijing today. iSteelAsia.com is sole sponsor of the exhibition and sole e-commerce sponsor of the exhibition seminars.

iSteelAsia.com has announced that it will set up offices in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to sustain and expand its leading position in the Chinese iron and steel industry. At the same time, iSteelAsia.com is going to hold exhibition shows in major Chinese cities, supply training to industry players and assist them in setting up e-commerce operations quickly. iSteelAsia.com is also discussing possible cooperation plans with the China Iron & Steel Investment Corporation to conduct e-commerce together.

At the conference Mr. Andrew Yao, iSteelAsia.com's founding Chairman and CEO, said: "The Asian steel trade accounts for 45% of total world consumption, which has an annual value of over US$300 billion. China is the largest iron and steel trading country in Asia. The expansion of iSteelAsia.com's presence in the China market is to capitalize on the important position of China in the world iron and steel trade, and utilize the advantages of iSteelAsia.com in information supply, low cost of transaction and related value-added services in order to bring new long-term opportunities to the Chinese iron and steel industry. "

Mr. Yao also spoke at the opening forum of the international Steel 2000 Conference held here three days ago on the immense opportunities emerged with e-commerce. This is iSteelAsia.com's first participation in an international metallurgical industry conference and exhibition since its listing on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in April.

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.