It has been revealed that domestic construction companies are displaying strong performances in overseas construction orders this year.
According to the International Contractors Association of Korea on Sept. 10, the amount of overseas construction orders for the past January to August reached US$21.93 billion (29.32 trillion won), showing an increase of nearly 20 percent compared to the same period last year, which was US$18.3 billion.
Looking at the cumulative order amount by month, it was US$660 million in January, US$4.16 billion in February, US$6.11 billion in March, US$7.77 billion in April, and US$8.67 billion in May. Until May, it did not reach the level of the previous year, which was US$10.3 billion.
However, starting from June, with a record-breaking US$17.29 billion, surpassing the previous year’s US$12.04 billion, and continuing into July with US$19 billion and August with US$21.93 billion, the overseas construction order performance has consistently exceeded last year’s figures. As of August, the performance in overseas construction orders has exceeded US$20 billion for the first time since 2018, when it stood at US$20.4 billion.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction’s successful bid for a large-scale project in Saudi Arabia in June has been a driving force behind the overall overseas performance of domestic construction companies this year. The US$5 billion project awarded to Hyundai E&C by Aramco, a state-owned petroleum company in Saudi Arabia, for a petrochemical complex, is the largest contract ever secured by a South Korean company in Saudi Arabia. It ranks as the 7th largest project awarded to a South Korean firm in history, following projects like the 2009 Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the 2014 Karbala refinery project in Iraq.
As a result, the order amount from the Middle East region, thanks to this success, reached an impressive US$7.41 billion, more than double that of the previous year. The Middle East region also accounted for the largest share of orders at 33.8 percent among various regions.
In North America and the Pacific region, the orders were predominantly focused on construction, totaling US$7.34 billion with a share of 33.5 percent, while in Asia orders centered around industrial facilities and construction, amounting to US$4.3 billion with a 19.6 percent share.
With strong order performance recorded through August, there is a keen interest in whether this year will also achieve overseas orders exceeding US$30 billion. Annual overseas order performance has consistently surpassed the US$30 billion mark every year since 2020. Given the current favorable order results, it is expected that this trend will continue, allowing for the smooth achievement of the US$30 billion milestone.