Overseas orders won by South Korean builders surpassed $50 billion for the third straight year in 2012, due to increased demand from the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, data showed Monday.

Local builders signed deals worth $51.6 billion during the January-November period, up 13 percent from the same period last year, according to the data released by the International Contractors Association of Korea.

Still, industry officials said it remained unclear whether the companies could achieve their overseas sales target of 70 billion by the end of the year due to delayed orders from foreign countries amid the global economic slump.

South Korean builders bagged orders worth $59.1 billion and $71.5 billion in 2011 and 2010, respectively, according to the association.

Orders from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, the largest market for South Korean builders, stood at $30.5 billion in the first 11 months of 2012, accounting for more than half of the total orders.

Orders from Latin American countries soared 253 percent on-year to 5.5 billion while those from Africa stood at $1.2 billion, up 28 percent from a year earlier, according to the association.

Meanwhile, orders from Asia, the second-largest market for South Korean construction companies, dipped 5 percent on-year to $13.5 billion, according to the association. (Yonhap News)