The Korean government has set a higher plant order intake target for this year than 2023 and will provide intensive support to help Korean plant builders attain the goal. This is because the global plant market is expected to grow and Korean companies’ order-taking competitiveness has been strengthened.
The Korean government has set a target of US$33 billion in plant orders for 2024, 9.3 percent higher than US$30.2 billion in 2023, saying that it will provide all-out support including high-level sales diplomacy to achieve it, according to industry sources on Mar. 4.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) recently announced a plan to support the expansion of plant orders to Korean plant companies in 2024, including the target and strategies, at a joint public-private task force meeting on export expansion chaired by MOTIE Minister Ahn Duk-geun.
“To reach US$700 billion in exports, Corporate Korea needs to actively win overseas plant orders,” Ahn said. “All ministries and export support organizations will work together to provide full support including financial support and on-site assistance.”
The Korean government’s target for this year’s plant orders eclipse last year’s because the global plant market is expected to grow and Korean companies have become more competitive in landing new orders.
According to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), the global plant market is expected to reach US$3.5 trillion this year, up more than 10 percent from last year, due to an increase in orders in response to the pandemic and high oil prices.
Moreover, global plant companies have faltered in taking orders as they have maintained a conservative order-taking strategy due to financial deterioration following massive losses in the mid-2010s.
Korean companies, on the other hand, have been able to survive during a market downturn by winning orders from their sister companies and profits from plant construction projects in Korea, giving them an edge in global competition.
This year, the Korean government plans to expand orders by focusing on major markets such as the Middle East, ASEAN, and Oceania, new markets such as the CIS, Africa, and the Americas, and eco-friendly and new industries.
In the Middle East, the Korean government will try to help Korean plant companies win large projects in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, among others, promoting industrial transformations with oil money.
The Korean government plans to support the expansion of plant orders by continuing high-level exchanges in the Middle East in 2024 based on a cooperation framework established through the Korean president’s sales diplomacy over the past two years.