In the first half of this year (January to June), the overseas order amount of construction companies exceeded $30 billion (approximately 41.38 trillion won), marking the highest level in 11 years since 2014 on a semiannual basis. A new nuclear power order in the Czech Republic, worth about 25 trillion won, accounted for 60% of the overseas orders in the first half. Due to the impact of the Czech nuclear power orders, the share of orders in the industrial equipment sector, including nuclear and thermal power plants and chemical plants, exceeded 80%. However, excluding the Czech nuclear power orders, the overseas order amount decreased compared to last year.
Among domestic companies excluding Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), Samsung C&T had the largest overseas order amount, followed by Doosan Enerbility. Samsung E&A, which secured over $6 billion in orders in the first half of last year, achieved only $1.8 billion in orders in the first half of this year, which is less than one-third of last year's figure.
According to the Korea Association of Overseas Construction, 247 companies secured 258 projects in 88 countries in the first half of the year. The total order amount reached $31.01 billion (approximately 42.6945 trillion won), doubling (199%) compared to the first half of last year. It is the first time in 11 years since 2014 (first half $37.5 billion) that the order amount exceeded $30 billion in the first half.
The surge in overseas orders this year is attributed to KHNP's signing of the 1,000 MW Dukovany 5 and 6 nuclear power plant contract with EDUⅡ in the Czech Republic last month. This is a project worth approximately 25 trillion won. It is the first time in 16 years since the export of the Barakah nuclear power plant to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2009 that a domestic company has exported a nuclear power plant. In the first half, the Czech nuclear power plant accounted for 60.37% of the total overseas orders.
However, when excluding the Czech nuclear power plants from overseas orders, the order amount has actually decreased compared to the first half of last year. Last year, $15.6 billion was secured, but this year, only $12.288 billion was secured.
The share of industrial equipment, including nuclear and thermal power plants and chemical plants, in overseas orders is also continuing to rise. The share of industrial equipment orders increased from 46.8% in the first half of 2023 to 65.3% last year and has now reached 84.1%.
In terms of major orders in the first half based on amount, the construction project for the new Czech Dukovany nuclear power plant secured on the 4th of last month was the largest at $18.722 billion. Samsung E&A also secured the Tajiz Methanol project in the UAE ($1.685 billion, January 31) and Daewoo E&C secured the Turkmenistan Turkmenabat fertilizer plant ($784 million, May 24). All of the top seven projects by order amount came from the industrial equipment sector.
Director General Kim Seong-jin of the Korea Association of Overseas Construction noted, "Korean corporations' strengths in nuclear power and other industrial equipment areas in terms of cost-to-performance ratio have maintained world-class levels, leading to continued orders in the industrial equipment sector," adding, "However, many civil engineering or construction projects do not require special technical skills, so we are currently losing price competitiveness to local companies and those from China, India, and Turkey."
By company, excluding KHNP, Samsung C&T recorded $2.585 billion, the highest order amount, accounting for 8.5% of overseas orders in the first half. Doosan Enerbility ($2.356 billion, 7.6%) ranked second in order amounts. However, Samsung E&A, which recorded the highest total orders of $6.081 billion in the first half of last year, achieved only $1.846 billion in orders this first half (5.9%). In March, the Samsung E&A Sales & BD Division shared their order strategy with the government, saying, "The new volume of the semiconductor plant project, which is a major project this year, is expected to decrease," and mentioned that despite tough market conditions, they would focus on selectively securing orders in areas where they have specialized technology and experience. However, actual orders greatly decreased in the first half.
An industry official stated, "In civil engineering or construction, we are lagging behind China in terms of labor costs and material prices, while in high-value-added industries such as nuclear power generation and chemical plants, we maintain world-class technology and price competitiveness, leading to significant orders. However, China is quickly catching up to our technological capabilities, so it seems that domestic construction companies will not have much longer to remain superior in technology compared to China."