By Jung Sung-ki
Korean construction companies have secured orders worth $41 billion from overseas, according to the International Construction Association of Korea (ICAK) Tuesday, with expectations high that total orders by the year’s end will near the target of $60 billion.
According to the lobby group for local builders, Korea’s construction firms have won orders of $41.04 billion as of Oct. 31. The figure was down from last year’s $58.1 billion, but given the country then secured its largest-ever deal worth $20 billion to build nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates, this year’s results could rather be interpreted as an improvement, ICAK officials said.
“With major builders in Korea expecting more overseas orders by the end of the year, we expect the final figure from overseas construction projects will go up further, as high as this year’s goal of $60 billion,” an ICAK official said. He said prospects for overseas orders are more encouraging now because nations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia are engaged in major construction projects.
Korean builders are enjoying a boom in Saudi Arabia as orders from the Middle East country have reached $14 billion, about a 155 percent increase from last year’s $9 billion, according to the ICAK. Since 1973, Korean builders have landed construction projects worth $100 billion there.
Daelim Industrial won orders worth $14 billion, followed by Hyundai Engineering & Construction with $13 billion, and Samsung Engineering with $10 billion.
“Many Korean builders entered the Saudi Arabian market in the 1980s as the Middle East nation carried out massive construction projects amid surging oil prices, and since the mid-2000s, orders from Saudi Arabia have increased again for the same reason, offering Korean firms another striking business opportunity,” the ICAK official said.
The total value of construction orders from Iraq has reached $3.2 billion this year, up 2,448 percent from that of the previous year.
In Asia, Vietnam is the largest customer for Korean firms this year, with $2.8 billion in orders, an 83 percent increase from 2010, followed by Singapore with $2.7 billion.