Overseas orders for Korea's industrial plants shrank slightly from a year earlier in 2013 due to sharp drops in orders from Middle Eastern and American countries, the government said Tuesday.

   Overseas orders for the country's industrial plants, including offshore facilities, came to about $63.67 billion last year, down 1.7 percent from 2012, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

   "The local industry can be said to have successfully entered a phase of steady overseas orders as it clenched over $60 billion worth of orders for the fourth consecutive year since 2010 despite worsening global conditions, such as a global economic crisis and a drop in the number of orders from the Middle East," the ministry said in a press release.

   The ministry forecast the amount of overseas orders for industrial plants to top $70 billion in 2014.

   "This year, the country is expected to be able to win over $70 billion worth of overseas orders for the first time in its history amid a global economic recovery, high oil prices and an expansion of social infrastructure in newly developing countries," it said.

   In 2013, orders from Asian countries jumped 40.2 percent on-year to $24.84 billion, accounting for 39 percent of all orders won by  Korean builders.

   Orders from Middle Eastern countries, on the other hand, plunged 33 percent on-year to some $14.02 billion with orders from countries on the American continent also dropping 27.5 percent to $8.13 billion. (Yonhap News)