BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto came up with a near identical number for their China steel production forecasts. AFR Weekend reveals where the number came from and why the miners are sticking to it. Angus Grigg and Lisa Murray report.
It was a project as ambitious as China itself. In 2007, just as the world was grappling with how to deal with China's unprecedented urbanisation, consulting firm McKinsey dispatched teams to 14 cities across the country to study everything from the wages of a local driver in Chengdu to the height of residential towers under construction in Shanghai.
The consultants were aiming to answer one question: just how big would China's cities grow?
