Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world¡¯s biggest shipbuilder, plans to raise prices as demand for fuel-efficient vessels increases, reports the Japan News, citing Bloomberg, Singapore.

Hyundai Heavy¡¯s optimism helped drive up shares of South Korean shipbuilders Monday and contrasts with gloom over Chinese shipbuilders. A third of China¡¯s yards may shut down in about five years as they struggle to win orders, an unamed industry group informed Japan Times.

About 483 shipyards in China won $10.5 billion worth of orders in the first six months of this year, while 94 builders in South Korea got $18.5 billion, says the Japan Times citing Clarkson PLC.

The order book at Chinese shipbuilders fell 23 percent at the end of May from a year earlier, according to the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry.

Source: Japan Times/Bloomberg