Six Korean construction companies are estimated to have secured orders exceeding 10 trillion won ($8.7 billion) in 2011 due mainly to increased overseas contracts, industry sources said Monday.

POSCO Engineering & Construction Co., GS E&C and Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. ranked in the top three in terms of orders won, with Samsung C&T Corp., Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. and Daelim Industrial Co. also faring well, they said.

“POSCO orders surged by 3 trillion won to around 14.4 trillion won last year from 2010, because it nabbed Brazil’s CSP steel mill construction contract worth 5 trillion won,” a market watcher said.

Fifty-six percent of POSCO’s orders were overseas deals, which help offset weak construction demand inside the country.

GS and Daewoo vied for second place after POSCO, with both companies having won orders exceeding 13 trillion won last year.

GS, which won contracts in Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Singapore, probably did slightly better than Daewoo, which signed building deals in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Orders secured by Samsung C&T in 2011 were estimated to be worth 12.2 trillion won, while Hyundai and Daelim were both expected to have won orders valued at 11 trillion won.

“Those that made the list generally did well overseas, while companies that focused on domestic operations did not do as well because of the sluggish domestic real estate and construction market,” a source said. 

(Yonhap News)