SMS Meer, Mönchengladbach, an SMS group company in D¨¹sseldorf,
received an order for the supply of a total of four extrusion presses to the
People''s Republic of China.

In the presence of Chen Deming, the Chinese Minister for Trade, a contract
was signed by Yan Jitai, the President of Shandong Yankuang Light Alloy Co.
Ltd., and Ulrich Vohskämper, Head of the Hydraulic Presses Division, SMS
Meer, within the framework of the German-Chinese Economic Forum held at
the Haus der Deutschen Wirtschaft in Berlin.

SMS Meer will be supplying four extrusion presses for the manufacture of
aluminium sections and seamless aluminium tubes to Shandong Yankuang
Light Alloy Co. Ltd. The presses will work with press forces of 36 MN, 55 MN,
82 MN and 150 MN. The latter will be the world''s largest modern rod and
tube extrusion press. The facilities are to be installed in the aluminium
extrusion plant currently under construction in Jining, approx. 200 km south
of Jinan in the Province of Shandong. Upon completion, the plant will have a
production capacity of approx. 130,000 t of aluminium sections per year.