Domestic orders won by South Korean construction companies fell 16.3 percent in September from a year earlier, industry data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign of a prolonged slump in the local construction sector.

Local builders bagged a combined 7.26 trillion won ($6.6 billion) worth of new orders in September, according to data released by the Construction Association of Korea.

Orders from the public sector plunged 37.9 percent on-year to 2.31 trillion won in September while those from the private dipped just 0.1 percent to 4.94 trillion won over the cited period, according to CAK.

South Korean builders’ total domestic orders in the first nine months of the year stood at 75.69 trillion won, up 2.9 percent from the same period last year. 

The association said the prospect for domestic orders in the fourth quarter is not optimistic. (Yonhap News)