According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, Shandong's foreign trade imports and exports in the first half of this year amounted to 885.84 billion yuan ($138.4 billion), rendering a year-on-year increase of 1.2 percent. Among them, exports were up by 1.4 percent at 482.56 billion yuan, and imports up by 0.9 percent at 403.28 billion yuan.

Main characteristics of Shandong's imports and exports of foreign trade:

Imports and exports of general trade grew steadily with a slight increase in share, while those of processing trade fell by over 10 percent. Imports and exports of general trade reached 608.68 billion yuan, up by 5.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 68.7 percent of the import and export volume of the province. The share increased by 3 percentage points over the same period of last year, of which exports increased by 8.5 percent and imports by 2.8 percent. Imports and exports of processing trade decreased by 12 percent and accounted for 22.5 percent of the volume, with its share down by 3.4 percentage points.

Imports and exports of private enterprises accounted to more than 60 percent of the total volume, of which foreign-invested enterprises exhibited a slight decline. Imports and exports of private enterprises amassed 543.36 billion yuan with an increase of 5.5 percent and accounted to 61.3 percent of the total volume with an increase of 2.5 percentage points. Exports and imports increased by 8 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. Imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises decreased by 4.7 percent, rendering a drop of 1.9 percentage points. Imports and exports of state-owned enterprises fell by 6.4 percent, accounting for 8.6 percent.

Imports and exports with the United States increased slightly, differing to the decline of those with the EU, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), South Korea and Japan. Imports and exports with Brazil increased significantly. The US, the EU, ASEAN, South Korea and Japan maintain their status as Shandong's top five trading partners, accounting for 52.8 percent of Shandong's total foreign trade import and export volume. Imports and exports with said countries reached 111.37 billion yuan, 99.29 billion yuan, 95.86 billion yuan, 92.83 billion yuan and 68.06 billion yuan respectively, with their respective growth rate at 0.7 percent, 1.4 percent, -10.1 percent, -5 percent and -1.6 percent. Imports and exports with Brazil increased by 41.3 percent and 28.3 percent respectively, making Brazil the sixth largest trading partner of Shandong province and its largest source of imports.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products as well as agricultural products declined while exports of labor-intensive products continued to grow, of which exports of steel, aluminum and transportation vehicles showed double-digit growth. In the first half of the year, Shandong's exports of mechanical and electrical products reached 179.14 billion yuan, down 1.4 percent, those of agricultural products 52.25 billion yuan, down 7 percent, and those of labor-intensive products 91.94 billion yuan, up 0.6 percent, of which textiles and clothing accounted for 70 percent with an increase of 2.4 percent. Exports of said commodities accounted for 67 percent of the total volume of Shandong's exports. In the same period, exports of steel, aluminum, automobiles and containers in the first half of Shandong increased by 10.7 percent, 29.7 percent, 12.2 percent and 34.3 percent respectively.

Imports of main resources and energy commodities exhibit discrepancies, of which those of mechanical and electrical products as well as agricultural products have declined. In the first half of the year, imports of crude oil, copper ore, aluminum ore and pulp capped 114.27 billion, 18.61 billion, 13.07 billion and 11.77 billion yuan, up 19.7 percent, 41.2 percent, 26.7 percent and 22.7 percent respectively. Those of iron ore, rubber and copper reached 21.93 billion, 11.43 billion, and 7.99 billion yuan, down 22.8 percent, 34.7 percent, and 32.2 percent respectively. In the same period, imports of mechanical and electrical products reached 84.6 billion yuan, displaying a slight decrease of 0.5 percent. Imports of agricultural products touched 46.22 billion yuan, down 6.2 percent.

Imports and exports of new foreign trade forms witnessed rapid growth. In the first half of the year, imports and exports of cross-border e-commerce topped 1.5 billion yuan with an increase of 1.3 precent. Among them, exports were up 95.5 percent at 860 million yuan and imports up 1.8 times at 640 million. Bonded e-commerce imports, which started this year, mounted 67.39 million yuan. In the same period, the Shandong market purchased imports worth of 2.84 billion yuan, marking an increase of 3.3 times.

Aerial photo taken on May 4, 2018 shows an automatic container dock in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]

An aerial view of the Yantai port in the Zhifu district. [Photo/jiaodong.net]

Imported coal is loaded at a port in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, on May 14, 2018. [Photo/IC]