Decrease in newbuilding prices, having started from the second half last year, turns out to have lasted until January 2012, for seven consecutive months.
Clarksons newbuilding price index, as of February 1st, has dropped for seven months straight to 137.6p, down by 3.1% y-o-y. 
The standard newbuilding price for 160,000-cbm LNG carrier stands at $202m, which shows no big difference with that from a year earlier. Almost every type of ship, except small size LPG carrier, saw its newbuilding price decline.
Meanwhile, newbuilding orderbook, as of the end of January 2012, stands at 5,623 vessels of 340m dwt, down by 4.2% from early 2012, in numerical terms. According to Clarksons, 193.5m dwt, about 57% of orderbook, will be delivered for the rest of 11 months this year.
Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea ranked in the first place of shipyard group orderbook with 9.467m cgt, followed by Samsung HI 7.713m cgt in the second place, Daewo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering 7.589m cgt in the third. STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard took the fourth and fifth place each. SPP Shipbuilding, Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction ranked in 10th, 14th and 17th, respectively.
In January, a total of 27 vessels of 2m dwt were contracted, among which nine offshore vessels were newly ordered. South Korea booked 1.7m dwt, while China took the rest of 0.3m dwt. Daewoo inked four VLCCs, STX four 82,000-dwt bulkers, Qidong Dajiang four 12,000-cbm LPG carriers, Chengxi Shipyard two 49,000 dwt bulkers ($24.7m apiece), etc.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Chinese yards won new order for overall 500 vessels, $19.6bn in 2011, down by 59% and 49% y-o-y, in numerical and amount terms each. China took 21% of newbuilding contract, in terms of contract amount, which plummeted from 38% in 2010.
On the other hand, South Korea penned 361 newbuildings, totalling $48.7bn, topped on the basis of cgt, gt and order amount, taking 53%.
Korean shipbuilders are expected to show good performance in 2012 as well, with prominent position in gas carrier, product carrier and offshore sector.
During the same month, overall 199 vessels - 129 bulkers, 30 tankers and one LNG carrier - of 16.4m dwt were delivered. 18 LNG carriers are scheduled to be delivered in 2013 and 25 vessels in 2014.
Of the total of 199 vessels delivered last month, China, Korea and Japan took 92.5% with 184 vessels - China 105 vessels, Korea 50 and Japan 29 deliveries.
In January, 74 vessels of 3.6m dwt were sold for scrap, similar to December 2011 and up by 25% on the same month last year.