Rouge Steel Names e-STEEL in e-Commerce Alliance;Eighth Largest U.S. Integrated Mill Commits to...

Business Editors

NEW YORK / DEARBORN, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2000

e-STEEL Corporation, a leading B2B exchange for the global steel industry, today announced that it has inked an important multi-year, strategic alliance with Rouge Steel Company, the eighth largest U.S. integrated

Under the agreement, Rouge Steel expects to annually sell about 200 thousand tons of steel via e-STEEL (www.e-steel.com).

Additionally, the two companies plan to implement system integration, which will reduce costs as well as streamline workflow and improve customer linkages.

"In aligning with e-STEEL, Rouge gains an important strategic association with what we view as the most advanced and proven solution for steel e-Commerce," said Carl L. Valdiserri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rouge Industries. "e-STEEL's proprietary technology tools will enable Rouge to enhance its customer focus initiatives. We anticipate that e-STEEL's collaborative commerce initiatives will lead to important, new business processes which will result in savings via more efficient inventory management," Valdiserri said.

"We are delighted that Rouge, which has strong relationships to important end users in the automotive sector, as well as other key end use sectors, has selected e-STEEL to drive its e-Business strategy," said e-STEEL Chairman, Founder and CEO Michael S. Levin. "At e-STEEL, we are committed to proving value to our clients. Thus, we are especially pleased that Rouge, one of the first companies to join e-STEEL, has endorsed our vision and committed to use e-STEEL to transact significant annual prime and non-prime tonnage," said Levin.

About Rouge Steel

Rouge Steel Company, a subsidiary of Rouge Industries, Inc., is the eighth largest integrated steel manufacturer in the United States. In 1999, Rouge had sales of $967 million based on shipments of 2.3 million tons of steel products. Its single-site manufacturing facility is centrally located in Dearborn, Michigan - the Automobile Capital of the world - where for over 75 years it has been producing high quality flat-rolled carbon steel products for the automotive industry, as well as converters, service centers and other related markets. In 1995, Rouge Steel became the first integrated steel mill in the world to attain QS-9000 certification.

About e-STEEL

New York City-based, e-STEEL Corporation (www.e-steel.com) is the leading negotiation-based, neutral marketplace "e-hub" for prime and secondary products serving the $700 billion global steel industry. Its electronic commerce solution web site unites buyers and sellers and provides an array of resources for sales and purchasing professionals throughout the steel value chain. Nearly 3,000 companies, from 90 countries have become members of e-STEEL, representing all of the key segments of the steel value chain.

The company has grown rapidly beyond buy-sell functionality, and now offers end-to-end integration solutions and supply chain management services.

Founded in September 1998, e-STEEL has 130 employees and additional offices in Chicago, Pittsburgh Detroit, Atlanta, Brussels, Tokyo, and Singapore. e-STEEL is backed by a blue-chip group of strategic investors led by Goldman, Sachs & Co. Recently, e-STEEL also completed significant strategic alliances with Ford Motor Company, U.S. Steel Group, Dofasco Inc., Ispat International, National Steel and Worthington Steel.