China’s largest contractor reports double-digit growth in new orders

Tall buildings in Shanghai (Photo: AdobeStock)

China’s biggest construction contractor, China State Construction (CSCEC), has reported a 12.8% year-on-year increase in new contracts for the nine-month period covering January to September.

It said that newly signed contracts over the period now totalled CNY 2,769 billion (US$378.4 billion).

CSCEC reported an 11.6% year-on-year increase in new housing construction contracts, totalling CNY 1,983.3 billion (US$271 billion)

New infrastructure orders saw a stronger increase of 16.2%, climbing to CNY 775.6 billion ($106 billion).

And new contracts in CSCEC’s survey and design services arm rose by 10.8% to CNY 10.3 billion ($1.4 billion).

The majority of new orders, totalling CNY 2,685 billion ($366.9 billion), came in the domestic construction market.

The company also recorded CNY 84.2 billion ($11.5 billion) of overseas orders.

The strong performance came in spite of continued turmoil in China’s property market. Last month, Chinese property giant Evergrande, which holds the record for being the world’s most indebted company, suspended trading of its shares while there were also reports that current and former executives had been detained.

The company was found to be in default in 2021 after missing a repayment deadline, triggering a real estate market crisis in China.