Economic downturn in construction

[Anchor]

The construction industry is continuing to face an economic downturn.

In recent months, mid-sized construction companies have been filing for corporate rehabilitation.

The downstream industries that produce construction materials such as cement and rebar are also being pushed into crisis.

Reporter Lee Seung-cheol has covered the situation on-site.

[Report]

This is the largest cement factory in the country.

There are seven kilns for making cement, but one has been stopped since last month.

Due to lack of sales, production has been reduced to 85% of its capacity.

[Kim Chang-won/Deputy Manager, Donghae Plant, Ssangyong C&E: "If you look at the total cement shipment volume for January and February this year, it is showing a performance that is far below what we had anticipated."]

There is no place to store the cement inventory.

As the stock exceeded the storage capacity of 650,000 tons, the excess has been piled up outside.

The area in front of the warehouse, where trailers used to line up to transport cement, is now quiet.

At its peak, over 80 trailers would come and go in a day, but now that number has dropped to less than half.

[Kim Hae-guk/Cement Trailer Driver: "There trailers being repossessed because owners can't make payments. If no measures are taken, all the trailer owners will go under."]

The industry expects domestic cement shipments to fall below 40 million tons this year.

This would be a return to levels seen before 1991, with a sharp decline of 20% over the past two years.

[Han Chan-soo/Director of External Cooperation, Korea Cement Association: "If the economic downturn continues in the construction industry, we foresee that additional shutdowns of production lines will be inevitable, which is a deep concern."]

Along with cement, the production of rebar, a key construction material, has also dropped to levels seen in the 1990s.

They are looking to exports to push out inventory, but competing with cheap Chinese products is not easy.

As the construction industry downturn prolongs, all related industries are taking a hit.

This is KBS News, Lee Seung-cheol.