The Information Office of the Shandong Provincial Government announced some of the major achievements the province has made in foreign trade in recent years, at a recent press conference. 

During the conference, Qingdao Customs and Jinan Customs jointly stated the main foreign trade partners of Shandong province since the reform and opening up.

The number of the province's foreign trade partners increased from more than 50 at the beginning of reform and opening up to 226 in 2017.

Japan was the largest trading partner of Shandong for many years before 2001 because they are geographically close and industrially complementary to each other.

South Korea became the second largest trading partner of Shandong in 1992. It surpassed Japan in 2002 and has been ranked first for nine consecutive years.

Between 1992 and 2010, Shandong's trade with South Korea grew at an average annual rate of 22.5 percent, up to $28.08 billion, accounting for 25 percent of the total.

The United States officially took the top position in 2011 and kept it until 2017. Although Shandong's trade with the US reached a record of $37.41 billion in 2014, the proportion was only 13.5 percent of the province's total. It is a testament to the overall growing trend of diversified growth in Shandong's foreign trade market.

The construction of the Free Trade Zone and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in recent years has in recent years promoted the increasingly diversified foreign trade partners of the province.

In addition to the steady growth in traditional markets such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, Shandong's import and export with emerging markets continues to expand, and the total trade volume of the four emerging markets of ASEAN, Africa, Latin America and India grew from 8.8 percent of the total in 1993 to 33 percent in 2017.

As of 2017, China has signed 16 free trade agreements (FTA) with 24 countries and regions to increase trade preferences. In 2017, the total import and export value between Shandong and the FTA countries and regions reached $92.54 billion, accounting for 35.2 percent of Shandong's total.

Since the launch of the BRI in 2013, Shandong's import and export with countries involved in the BRI has achieved substantial growth. In 2017, Shandong's investment in these countries accounted for 26.7 percent of the total. Additionally, the total import and export value of these countries accounted for 27.1 percent of the province total in that year.

The Information Office of Shandong province holds a press conference recently to introduce the achievements and experiences of Shandong's foreign trade since the reform and opening-up. [Photo/iqilu.com]

An employee oversees loading of containers at Qingdao Port, Shandong province. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/For China Daily]

Shoppers at an imported goods store at the bonded port area of Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/For China Daily]