China Could Build Upto 50,000 New Skyscrapers 2025

Rio Tinto, the worlds second largets mining group, said that it expected Chinese economic growth to remain strong this year despite a hiatus over the past month.

Tom Albanese, chief executive of Rio Tinto, said: “We do not see a country-wide slowdown and expect the Chinese economy to pick up post-Olympics.” His comments came as Rio revealed a 55 per cent increase in its underlying earnings to $5.5 billion during the first six months of this year.

The group has forecast a continuing rise in demand for steel and materials partly on a predicted building boom in China, with the equivalent of 10 New Yorks to be built before 2025. It cited research by analyst McKinsey which concluded that China would have 221 cities with more than 1m inhabitants by 2025, with between 20,000 and 50,000 new skyscrapers. There are at present only 35 cities of that size in the whole of Europe.