Construction orders from Saudi Arabia halve in first 8 months

Orders won by South Korean construction companies in Saudi Arabia halved in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year, a private research institute reported Tuesday.

Orders clinched by those companies in the first eight months of 2014 reached US$2.67 billion, down 51.2 percent from $5.47 billion tallied a year earlier, the Korea Automotive Research Institute (KARI) said, based on data compiled by the International Contractors Association of Korea.

Officials at the institute, a think tank of the Hyundai Motor Group, attributed the sharp decrease to a drop in oil prices and political unrest in the Middle East.

The amount of construction orders from Saudi Arabia peaked at $16.6 in 2011 before dropping to $16.2 billion in 2012 and $10.0 billion in 2013.

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

Construction orders from Saudi Arabia halve in first 8 months

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