Overseas orders clinched by South Korean builders rose almost 10 percent this year from the previous year, but they missed the government’s target of $70 billion, a report showed Sunday.

Local builders won overseas orders worth $64.9 billion in 2012, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. But the volume was lower than the government-set target of $70 billion, it added.

The government said that the eurozone debt crisis led local builders to face difficulties in winning new orders in the Middle East. They also had to undergo a delay in finalizing contracts.

Orders from the oil-rich Middle East topped the list with $36.9 billion, followed by those from Asia with $19.4 billion, the government said.

The government forecast that Korean construction firms would clinch between $70 billion to $75 billion in overseas orders in 2013.

“Oil prices show stable movements, and more orders for building social infrastructure will likely continue in the Middle East,” a ministry official said. (Yonhap News)