Located on the east coast of China, Shandong province boasts many ports providing convenient transport for agricultural and manufactured goods. As a result Shandong has developed a large volume of foreign trade in various items, moving its products to market in 225 countries and regions all over the world. Shandong’s import and export volume reached 1.78 trillion yuan ($281.19 billion) in 2017, an increase of 15.2 percent over the same period of the previous year. Exports accounted for 996.54 billion yuan, an increase of 10.1 percent, and import volume rose to 785.85 billion yuan, an increase of 22.2 percent. The growth rate of imports and exports reached a five-year high, one percent higher than the national average figure, helping Shandong rank third of the six major coastal provinces with the second largest export growth rate.

Shandong province mainly exports mechanical and electrical products, textiles and clothing, chemical products, agricultural products and handicrafts from light industry. It has witnessed a steady growth in foreign trade and its export structure has also been optimized in recent years. The export volume of mechanical and electrical products increased to 387.73 billion yuan in 2017 and that of high-tech products to 99.01 billion yuan, accounting for 38.9 percent and 9.9 percent of total exports respectively.

As far as imports are concerned, Shandong mainly needs mechanical and electrical high-tech products and those involving resources and energy. The import value of the former was 176.18 billion yuan in 2017, accounting for 22.4 percent of the total, while the latter was in the 12 categories of iron ore, food supplies, copper, refined oil, copper ore, primary plastic, crude oil, coal, aluminum ore, natural rubber, cotton, and edible vegetable oil. Imports of dairy items, fruit, pork, beef and beer are currently thriving.

Agricultural product export

Shandong province has been selected as the first demonstration province for export of agricultural products with high quality. Export agricultural products such as seafood, vegetables, fruits and nuts, peanuts and meat have been mainly sent to Japan, the EU, ASEAN, Korea, the United States, the Middle East, Russia and other countries and regions. Shandong province's agricultural exports, which totaled 115.25 billion yuan, or 22.7 percent of the country's total in 2017, have maintained the top market share in China for 18 consecutive years.

More than 100 countries and regions are importing products from China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Co Ltd. The picture shows an exhibition of the products in Russia. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]