By Choi Sung-jin
Large Korean construction companies' new orders abroad plunged last year, hit by low oil prices and the consequent drop in orders from the Middle East, for building offshore plants, industry sources said Saturday.
Their domestic orders, however, surged sharply thanks to the housing boom, pushing the total amount of orders they received last year up slightly higher than their order receipts in 2014, the sources said.
The combined overseas orders of the five large construction companies – Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung, GS and Daelim – who announced their 2015 performances as of Thursday stood at 25.17 trillion won ($20.94 billion) last year, down 64.1 percent from 2014.
Their orders at home, on the other hand, surged 61.6 percent to 48.59 trillion won. Total orders edged up 3.33 percent to 73.76 trillion won, according to the industry sources.
All of the five large general contractors in Korea recorded declines of their overseas orders. Showing the worst drop was GS E&C, which saw its orders from abroad plummet 56.6 percent, from 6.90 trillion won to 2.99 trillion won, over the cited perio.
Hyundai E&C recorded a 50.4-percent decline in overseas orders from 19.97 trillion won to 9.90 trillion won, and those of Daelim Industrial, Daewoo E&C and Samsung C&T also fell to 1.74 trillion won, 3.57 trillion won and 7.44 trillion won, respectively.
By contrast, the five contractors' domestic orders increased, from 39 percent to 140 percent. Showing the steepest increase in domestic orders was also GS E&C, with 140.8-percent growth to 10.39 trillion won, followed by Daelim, up 75.8 percent to 11.19 trillion won, Daewoo (up 41.2 percent to 10.16 trillion won), Samsung (up 39 percent to 7.8 trillion won), and Hyundai (up 37.7 percent to 9.9 trillion won), the sources reported.
The shares of overseas orders out of the total dipped below 50 percent by all of the five companies. Daelim had the smallest percent of overseas orders with 13.6 percent, GS not much better with 22.3 percent, and 23.4 percent for Daewoo. Samsung and Hyundai showed balanced portions between domestic and overseas orders with comparable figures of 51.2 percent and 49.9 percent, respectively.
"Middle East countries sharply reduced their orders because of low oil prices, and the Korean builders were not as aggressive this past year in seeking new orders abroad," said Kim Hyun-ah, a researcher at Construction Economic Research Institute of Korea. "As low oil prices will likely continue for the time being, the construction companies should try to find business elsewhere."
Large Korean construction companies' new orders abroad plunged last year, hit by low oil prices and the consequent drop in orders from the Middle East, for building offshore plants, industry sources said Saturday.
Their domestic orders, however, surged sharply thanks to the housing boom, pushing the total amount of orders they received last year up slightly higher than their order receipts in 2014, the sources said.
The combined overseas orders of the five large construction companies – Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung, GS and Daelim – who announced their 2015 performances as of Thursday stood at 25.17 trillion won ($20.94 billion) last year, down 64.1 percent from 2014.
Their orders at home, on the other hand, surged 61.6 percent to 48.59 trillion won. Total orders edged up 3.33 percent to 73.76 trillion won, according to the industry sources.
All of the five large general contractors in Korea recorded declines of their overseas orders. Showing the worst drop was GS E&C, which saw its orders from abroad plummet 56.6 percent, from 6.90 trillion won to 2.99 trillion won, over the cited perio.
Hyundai E&C recorded a 50.4-percent decline in overseas orders from 19.97 trillion won to 9.90 trillion won, and those of Daelim Industrial, Daewoo E&C and Samsung C&T also fell to 1.74 trillion won, 3.57 trillion won and 7.44 trillion won, respectively.
By contrast, the five contractors' domestic orders increased, from 39 percent to 140 percent. Showing the steepest increase in domestic orders was also GS E&C, with 140.8-percent growth to 10.39 trillion won, followed by Daelim, up 75.8 percent to 11.19 trillion won, Daewoo (up 41.2 percent to 10.16 trillion won), Samsung (up 39 percent to 7.8 trillion won), and Hyundai (up 37.7 percent to 9.9 trillion won), the sources reported.
The shares of overseas orders out of the total dipped below 50 percent by all of the five companies. Daelim had the smallest percent of overseas orders with 13.6 percent, GS not much better with 22.3 percent, and 23.4 percent for Daewoo. Samsung and Hyundai showed balanced portions between domestic and overseas orders with comparable figures of 51.2 percent and 49.9 percent, respectively.
"Middle East countries sharply reduced their orders because of low oil prices, and the Korean builders were not as aggressive this past year in seeking new orders abroad," said Kim Hyun-ah, a researcher at Construction Economic Research Institute of Korea. "As low oil prices will likely continue for the time being, the construction companies should try to find business elsewhere."
![[LIFE'S OLLE TRAILS 1] How hiking Jeju's 437km of trails changed my life](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/76a9bfb384714b8d8bb0078962a18259.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] 'One Day Off' star Lee Na-young, director on creating subtle, feel-good series](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/796618f56a44402eabe81fe4530ab988.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
