Korean shipyards are falling behind their Chinese counterparts in global orders

Industrial data showed that Korean shipbuilders lagged behind their Chinese counterparts in global orders, to come second in the world in May, amid falling demand.

Domestic shipyards took in new orders totaling 510,000 gross overhead tons last month, accounting for 25 percent of the global order of 2.06 million overhead tons, according to data from Clarkson Research Services.

The global total of 79 ships last month was 36 percent lower than the same month last year. Chinese shipyards outperformed their Korean counterparts, securing orders worth 1.41 million gross tonnage, or 68 percent of the total.

Last month, Korean companies received orders to build 17 ships, compared to 52 ships for Chinese companies. The data also showed that backlogs of global orders reached 111.3 million compensated gross tons by the end of May, down 190,000 gross tons from the previous month.

Korea's order backlog reached 39.1 million compensatory gross tons, or 35 percent of the total, while China's order backlog reached 51.3 million compensatory gross tons, or 45 percent.

The Clarkson Ship Price Index, a measure of price changes in newly produced vessels, reached 170.1 points in May, up 10.03 points from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, foreign investors bought 14.2 trillion won ($10.9 billion) worth of Korean stocks and bonds in May, marking a record monthly purchase, the country's financial regulator said earlier this week.