According to the Ministry of Construction & Transportation (MOCT), last year’s overseas construction orders has totaled 3.7 billion dollars (at the end of the year), which is a slump compared to the year 2002 (6.1 billion dollars). 

Possible reasons for the stagnation is because the increase of uncertainty within the Middle East (takes up more than 50% of total amount of orders) on the war in Iraq has delayed plant construction orders such as on oil and gas. After the mid 90s, large-sized construction orders have decreased due to the stagnation and the spread of SARS in Southeast Asia. 
To follow the flow, enterprises in Korea are changing their order strategies from material superiority to profits and some have been concentrating on domestic business because of the prosperity of internal real estate transactions. But conditions inside and outside of Korea on overseas construction are now looking up this year. 

First, orders on construction projects that have been postponed due to security and threat after the Iraq war in the Middle East are expected to resume. And especially as rehabilitation projects in Iraq (about 18.6 billion dollars) are getting into stride, this year’s orders will greatly improve. 

Owing to the slow recovery tendency of the world economy, construction stagnation in Southeast Asia is expected to jump from the bottom. Russia also shows a high economic growth rate of 6% and amounts of orders is expected to expand because of the oil refineries and petrochemical plants. The increase on the uncertainty of the housing and construction market in and out of the country may reinforce overseas construction projects among large-scaled construction enterprises. 
Source: Ministry of Construction & Transportation, January 2, 2004