A building boom in China is under way as the country gets ready to host the 2008 Olympic Games, butits appetite forsteel is expected to grow unabated long after the flame is doused at the closing ceremonies. From the showpiece Bird's Nest stadium to a light-rail connection I for Beijing's airport to new ho-I tels in far-away cities, steel beams are clangingnon-stop at construction sites nationwide. With just a year to go before the games begin, analysts say the development of China's provincial cities should sustain steel demand even after the athletes go home, "Right now China is adding a lot of infrastructure, like subways, for in-. stance. That type of demand might fall off," said Xu Aihua, an analyst at: Beijing metals consultancy Antaike.
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