Overseas orders won by South Korean construction companies fell 31 percent in the first 11 months of this year from a year earlier, a state-run bank said Wednesday.

The combined overseas orders by the builders came to $18 billion in the January-November period, the Export-Import Bank of Korea said in a report, citing data compiled by the International Contractors Association of Korea.

By region, orders from Asia accounted for the lion's share with $10.6 billion, followed by the ones from Middle Eastern countries with $4.4 billion.

The bank estimated that the combined overseas orders of South Korean builders could reach between $23 billion and $25 billion for the whole of 2019 --  the lowest since 2006, when South Korean builders bagged a combined $16.5 billion worth of orders.

For 2019, South Korean builders have targeted a combined $35 billion worth of overseas orders.

For decades, oil-rich Middle Eastern countries had been the largest market for South Korean builders, but orders from the region have sharply dropped to $9.2 billion in 2018 from $36.9 billion in 2012.

South Korean builders have been pushing to diversify their business in Asia and countries in other regions in recent years. (Yonhap)