The huge LED scroll unfurled during the opening of the Beijing Olympics is currently being sold piece by piece at the ongoing 2008 China International Industry Fair in Shanghai.

"Since the scroll takes up too much room, BOCOG eventually gave up the idea of storing it," Yu Zhi, general manager of Beijing-based Leyard Electronic Technology Company, explained on Wednesday."

"So we have to sell it part by part to cover the cost of production."

He said BOCOG owned the right of using the products by lease during the Games and gave them back when it was over.

Leyard was in charge of producing the LED scroll and dreamlike Olympic Rings for the Games' opening ceremony.

Yu said the scroll cost about 20 million yuan (US$3 million) to make and was leased out for 10 million yuan during the event.

Performance companies and stage equipment operators have already snaffled most of the LED pieces after the fair opened on Tuesday,

Yu did not disclose the prices they had been fetching.

Measuring 147 m by 22 m, the scroll was tailored to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The service life of each LED matrix after being broken up is about 100,000 hours, Jin Wangyang, a company staff member, said.

The LED Olympic Five Rings were purchased and collected by BOCOG for an undisclosed price.

(China Daily November 7, 2008)