Overseas business by Chinese contractors registered double-digit growth in 2012, with the total value of their new contracts reaching $156.5 billion despite sluggish global market demand, the China International Contractors Association said on Thursday.

Last year's growth was 4.1 percentage points higher than in 2011.

"Last year, we saw a 10 percent increase in the number of new overseas contracts signed by Chinese international contractors," association spokeswoman Zhang Xiang told China Daily, adding that the industry is recovering, thanks to policy stimulus in overseas construction sectors.

By the end of 2012, Chinese construction groups signed overseas deals cumulatively worth $998.2 billion, of which 66.7 percent have been completed, according to the association.

In 2012, China's offshore construction contractors branched out from their traditionally strong sectors of housing construction, transportation and power generation to electronic communications, petrochemicals, water supply and drainage, and mining construction, according to the association

Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, and Ethiopia were among the top countries in which Chinese international contractors had significant business growth.

"The African and Asian markets remain the focus of Chinese construction contractors' overseas presence, accounting for 81 percent of their total contracting value last year," Zhang said.

"However, big jumps came from the Latin American and European markets, in which Chinese companies' contracts surged by more than 40 and 50 percent respectively."

Mo Wenhe, general manager of China Harbor Engineering Co Ltd, said: "Latin America is one of our key overseas markets and we are now strengthening our construction standards while accelerating business expansion there."

Mo's company has seen robust business growth in Latin America and the Caribbean since it entered markets there in 2011, including Venezuela and the Bahamas, where the company's construction projects include bridges, airports, power stations, energy and sewage disposal.

"The eurozone debt crisis has also created opportunities for Chinese enterprises to enter European markets," said the association.