General Steel Holdings Inc : General Steel Included into China's Qualified Steel Maker List

BEIJING, Jan. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- General Steel Holdings, Inc. ("General Steel" or the "Company") (NYSE: GSI), a leading non-state-owned steel producer in China, announced today that its principal manufacturing facility, Shaanxi Longmen Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. ("Longmen Joint Venture"), has been included in the List of Enterprises Fulfilling the Iron and Steel Industry Specification (the "List") released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China (the "MIIT"). Longmen Joint Venture is the only enterprise in China's Shaanxi province included in the List.

The List comprises 158 qualified steel makers, including the initial 45 members first published by the MIIT in April 2013 and an additional 113 newly-qualified members released in January 2014. The List includes a highly-selected group of large and medium steel manufacturers that have met or exceeded stricter national requirements and standards on product quality, environmental protection, energy consumption, workmanship and equipment, production scale, as well as work safety and social responsibility. The MIIT will collaborate with China's other governmental agencies to provide support to the List's members and to speed up the steel industry's restructuring and consolidation. Steel makers omitted from the List will most likely face higher electricity costs, more restrictive administrative measures, and adverse effects of forceful regulations intent on reducing the nation's overcapacity.

"We are honored as the only qualified steelmaker in Shaanxi province that was included in the List," said Henry Yu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Steel. "We believe the List demonstrates the government's determination to control overcapacity and lead China's steel industry into sustainable healthy growth. Our sole selection in the province not only ensures our leadership position in the region's steel production, but also brightens our short and long term outlook, as many of the unqualified steel makers will likely be forced to consolidate with stronger suitors or shut down. As the supply and demand of the Chinese steel industry becomes more balanced in the near future, we anticipate stronger steel producers, like General Steel, will expand profit margins as well as gain market share. "

"We will continue our dedication to producing high-quality steel products to fulfill the growing demand in our home market in Western China. We will work closely with both the central and local governments in their market rationalizing efforts, and given our local advantages, we are confident with our strategy and expect to significantly benefit from the improving industry fundamentals," Mr. Yu concluded.

About General Steel

General Steel, headquartered in Beijing, China, produces a variety of steel products including rebar, high-speed wire and spiral-weld pipe. The Company has operations in China's Shaanxi and Guangdong provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Tianjin municipality with seven million metric tons of crude steel production capacity under management. For more information, please visit www.gshi-steel.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs about future events and financial, political and social trends and assumptions it has made based on information currently available to it. The Company cannot assure that any expectations, forecasts or assumptions made by management in preparing these forward-looking statements will prove accurate, or that any projections will be realized. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of inaccurate assumptions or a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are set forth in the Company's filings under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere, and include: (a) those risks and uncertainties related to general economic conditions in China, including regulatory factors that may affect such economic conditions; (b) whether the Company is able to manage its planned growth efficiently and operate profitable operations, including whether its management will be able to identify, hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel or that management will be able to successfully manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities; (c) whether the Company is able to generate sufficient revenues or obtain financing to sustain and grow its operations; (d) whether the Company is able to successfully fulfill our primary requirements for cash; and (e) other risks, including those disclosed in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

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General Steel Holdings, Inc.

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SOURCE General Steel Holdings, Inc.