Overseas orders for South Korea’s industrial plants surged from a year earlier in the first three months, with large increases in orders from Africa and the Middle East, the government said Monday.

In the January-March period, overseas orders amounted to $16.8 billion, up 42.1 percent from the same period in 2013, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

“The rise in the first quarter appears to be the outcome of government efforts to help remove difficulties for (local) firms while also diversifying their overseas markets under the government-wide plans for the development of the industry that were announced last year,” the ministry said in a press release.

The ministry said it aims to boost the annual overseas orders to over $70 billion this year for the first time. (Yonhap)