Overseas construction orders procured by South Korean builders reached $31.6 billion in the first five months of this year, up 35 percent from the same period a year ago.

According to data by the International Contractors Association of Korea, the order amount was the highest in four years since a Korean consortium won a contract to build nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates in 2010.

By region, the Middle East remained the largest client with orders totaling $24.6 billion, accounting for 77.9 percent of all orders. Massive multibillion-dollar plant deals, including Kuwait’s Clean Fuel project and oil refinery plant in Karbala, Iraq, were the dominant contributors.

Asia came next with a record $4.9 billion but the amount fell short of last year’s $10.1 billion due to the decreased number of large-scale civil-engineering and plant construction projects.

The International Contractors Association said the construction firms’ enhanced competitiveness based on high-value-added engineering technology and efforts for exploitation of a new market led to the first five months’ strong performance.

The association forecast cumulative orders by the local builders to surpass $70 billion this year, up 7.4 percent from a year earlier.

(hnpark@heraldcorp.com)