EIC publishes an annual International Contracts Statistics with the help of its member federations. The statistics, which lists international turnover and new contracts, gives an in-depth view of how the market is developing for European contractors and is more accurate than other comparable statistics as it incorporates companies’ international construction business rather than their entire group turnover.

The EIC Statistics are thus complementary to the ENR Statistics, which does not exclusively analyse the international business of the world’s leading civil contractors, but also refers to electrical engineering contractors, steel builders, oil and gas companies, etc.

Given that the ENR editors collect not only construction revenues, but also revenues of group divisions such as energy and services, the EIC statistics provide an accurate description of the international construction activities of its member companies.

EIC 2017 Statistics: International Turnover recovers slowly

In 2017, international turnover of European contractors affiliated to EIC's Member Federations amounted to more than €176 billion. This represents an increase of 2,33% compared to €172 billion in 2016 and still below the 2015 peak of €180 billion. International turnover within Europe, including Russia, amounted to €76 billion, representing more than 40% of the total. Around one third of the international turnover, i.e. €53 billion, was generated outside of the OECD countries. Revenues in the Middle East amounted to €18 billion, those in Africa to €14 billion, those in Asia to €10 billion and those in Latin America to €9 billion. Finally, turnover in North America added up to €31 billion and in Australia to €16 billion.

In 2017, French contractors continued to lead the field with a total international turnover of more than €37 billion, followed by Turkish and German contractors with each around €28 billion. When looking at business outside of the OECD countries, Turkish international contractors contributed the largest share of turnover with €22 billion, followed by French contractors with €9 billion and Italian contractors with €5 billion.