Shandong's foreign trade totaled 968.81 billion yuan ($142.99 billion) in the first four months of this year, an increase of 14.2 percent over the same period last year and accounted for 7.7 percent of the country's total, according to local customs authorities.

Employees inspect a vessel at a wharf in Dongjiakou port in Qingdao, Shandong province on Feb 16. [Photo by Zhang Jingang/For China Daily]

During this period, the province's exports reached 572.71 billion yuan, up 22.7 percent, while its imports totaled 396.1 billion yuan, up 3.9 percent.

According to customs officials, from January to April, the import of high-tech products in Shandong totaled 49.99 billion yuan, up 28 percent, which drove the import growth by 2.9 percentage points, and was the main driving force of import growth.

In addition, the imports of integrated circuits, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and automatic control instruments and apparatuses increased by 32.2 percent, 105.3 percent and 19.5 percent, respectively.

The vitality of private enterprises in Shandong was also further enhanced.

In the first four months, private enterprises' imports and exports in Shandong was 697.15 billion yuan, up 19 percent and accounting for 72 percent of the province's total.

Its trade with ASEAN totaled 168.1 billion yuan, up 40 percent. Its trade with the United States reached 109.56 billion yuan, up 16.2 percent, and its trade with the European Union totaled 90.11 billion yuan, up 9.2 percent.

Shandong's trade with RCEP members reached 357.36 billion yuan, up 19.9 percent. Its imports and exports with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative totaled 343.61 billion yuan, up 26.6 percent and accounted for 35.5 percent of the total.