Overseas Construction
Construction orders from Asia have hit a record high, surpassing US$20 billion.
According to the International Contractors Association of Korea (ICAK) on November 13, local construction companies have won orders worth US$21.1 billion in Asia so far this year, already exceeding the annual figures for 2012 (US$19.4 billion). The importance of the Asian market has been growing, which accounts for 41.7% of the total market.
ICAK said that the growing importance of the Asian market is attributable to Korean builders’ different strategies. Recently, local builders have been focusing on Asia and Latin America instead of the Middle East. In particular, Asian countries with improved economies such as Vietnam have continued to place large-scale construction orders. On top of that, the total amount of orders from the US and other Pacific Rim countries has soared to US$6.2 billion this year. The corresponding figure in 2012 was US$200 million.
In contrast, construction orders from the Middle East, which used to be the biggest market for Korean builders, have been steadily decreasing to US$21.4 billion so far this year. This year’s figure is in marked contrast to the US$28.2 billion of the same period last year.
The same is true for Latin America and Africa. The total construction orders from Latin American markets amount to US$300 million in 2013 so far, a huge decrease from US$5.5 billion over the same period in the previous year. Also, the corresponding number for Africa is valued at US$800 million so far this year, far less than the US$1.2 billion in the same period of 2012.