The value of foreign trade in East China's Shandong province rose 4.2 percent year-on-year to 1.56 trillion yuan ($234 billion) in the first three quarters of this year, according to local customs authorities.

The province ranked sixth in China in terms of total foreign trade and third in terms of growth rate. It accounted for 6.7 percent of China's total imports and exports.

A US cargo ship docks at the Qingdao Port in Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Shaoyue/For China Daily]

During this period, 2,003 foreign-invested enterprises were established in the province, with a year-on-year increase of 17.5 percent, while the actual use of foreign capital reached $10.78 billion, up 27.9 percent year-on-year.

"Private enterprises dominate the province's foreign trade," said Zhang Yibing, a Jinan customs official.

In the first three quarters of this year, the imports and exports of private enterprises in Shandong increased by 11.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 68.6 percent of total foreign trade in the province, said Zhang.

Shandong's imports and exports to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative were valued at 468.74 billion yuan, up 10 percent year-on-year and accounting for 30.1 percent of all imports and exports.

During this period, Shandong's exports of mechanical and electrical products, labor-intensive products, and agricultural products were valued at 373.41 billion yuan, 194.45 billion yuan, and 91.1 billion yuan, up 8.7 percent, 23.8 percent, and 4.5 percent, respectively, and accounting for 41.8 percent, 21.8 percent, and 10.2 percent of the province's total export value.

In September of this year, Shandong began trialing a new supervision model to increase cross-border e-commerce B2B direct exports and e-commerce offshore warehouse exports, with export values in these two areas reaching 80.02 million yuan and 19.16 million yuan, respectively.