The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced today (June 26) that the value of construction contracts in the first quarter of this year reached 74.1 trillion won, a 23.4% increase compared to the same period last year, fueled by expanded investments in private semiconductor production facilities and data centers.

Public sector contracts amounted to 25.1 trillion won, up 5.0% from the same period last year, influenced by projects such as the Pocheon power plant and the Busan Port.

Private sector contracts totaled 49 trillion won, marking a 35.6% increase driven by projects including semiconductor production facilities and data centers.

By construction type, civil engineering contracts (including industrial facilities and landscaping) rose 35.8% to 29 trillion won, bolstered by an increase in private industrial facility projects.

Within this category, industrial facilities surged 159.0% from the same period last year to 11 trillion won.

Pure civil engineering contracts reached 17 trillion won, and landscaping reached 1 trillion won, both recording a 6.0% increase.

Architectural contracts were recorded at 45.1 trillion won, an increase of 16.6% due to private factory expansions and housing projects.

By company size, contracts for the top 1–50 construction firms rose 40.2% to 37.7 trillion won.

Contracts for firms ranked 101–300 increased by 6.8% to 5.3 trillion won, while those for firms ranked 301–1,000 rose by 24.9% to 6.5 trillion won.

By project location, contracts in the Seoul metropolitan area increased by 41.8% to 39.2 trillion won, while those in non-metropolitan areas saw a more modest growth of 7.8% to 34.9 trillion won.

By the location of company headquarters, contracts for firms based in the metropolitan area increased by 48.2% to 47.7 trillion won, whereas those for firms based outside the metropolitan area decreased by 5.4% to 26.3 trillion won.

Over the past decade, construction contract values peaked at 82.7 trillion won in the second quarter of 2022, fell to 45.5 trillion won in the third quarter of 2023, and have since shown a recovery trend.

The contract value for the first quarter of this year is at 89.6% of the level recorded in the second quarter of 2022.

Statistics on construction contracts can be found on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's statistics website.

(Photo: Yonhap News)