The foreign trade of East China's Shandong province has reached 1.85 trillion yuan ($286.34 billion) in the first eight months of 2021, up 38.8 percent and 40.3 percent respectively compared to 2020 and 2019, according to Qingdao and Jinan customs.

Its imports and exports during the period hit 783.9 billion yuan and 1.06 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.2 percent and 41.6 percent respectively.

Shandong's foreign trade from January to August accounted for 7.5 percent of China's total, ranking sixth among all provinces, while its growth rate ranked first among the top 10 provinces.

In August alone, the province's foreign trade was 256.9 billion yuan, up 29.6 percent and 56.3 percent compared to the same period in 2020 and 2019 respectively.

Data showed that 16 cities in Shandong have realized more than 20-percent growth in foreign trade over the first eight months of the year, said Liu Sai, director of the statistics department at Jinan customs.

According to Liu, private enterprises in the province have made great contributions to Shandong's achievements. From January to August, the private sector's foreign trade volume reached 1.3 trillion yuan, making up 70.2 percent of the province's total.

Mechanical and electrical products have been one of the major exported goods, generating 462.7 billion yuan in export revenue and accounting for 43.5 percent of Shandong's total exports.