From: International Briquettes Holding, IBH A Subsidiary of Siderúrgica Venezolana SIVENSA S.A. Contacts: Isabel Camejo / Maury Bedoni Investor Relations. Telephones: (02) 707.61.45 / 707. 64.49 Telefax: (02) 707.63.35 / 707. 64.26. E-mail: ir_dept@sivensa.com FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION:

IBH REPORTS FISCAL YEAR 2000 RESULTS

Caracas, December 21, 2000…International Briquettes Holding, IBH, a Sivensa subsidiary dedicated to the production and sale of iron-ore briquettes, reported sales of US$ 80 million in the fiscal year October 1999-September 2000. Venprecar's production during the period was 812,504 MT, which represents the greatest production in the plant's nine years of operations . A US$ 2 million operating loss was reported, of which US$ 1.4 million were caused in the last quarter. Similarly, of the US$ 19.7 million net loss recorded, US$ 18 million were also produced in the fourth quarter. The most important aspects of last quarter's results were: Orinoco Iron's losses were caused by the absorption of fixed costs during the start-up period, while its earnings were determined by a limited volume of briquettes due to the progressive implementation of the production trains and to the complexity of the manufacturing process. Restructuring expenses and interest payments of Orinoco Iron, which were capitalized at plant cost, and were reflected after commercial start-up in July. The decrease in international prices for briquettes, which had been informed in our last quarterly report. The Orinoco Iron Plant Trains 1 and 2 of the Orinoco Iron plant, which is part of the IBH-BHP partnership, began operational tests in May and June respectively. With this start-up process, failures in certain equipment, which are being progressively corrected by the manufacturers, were identified. In November, after the close of the fiscal period, the plant's train 3 initiated operating tests. Orinoco Iron is one of the largest private investments made in Venezuela outside of the petroleum industry in the last five years. The plant incorporates the FINMETâ technology that uses fines of iron-ore as raw material. Other direct reduction technologies use lumps and pellets as raw material. The advantage of FINMETâ is based on the reduction of production costs because it uses a less expensive iron-ore.