A view of the Qingdao Port in Shandong province on Sept 12, 2022 [Photo/VCG] 

In the first 10 months of this year, Qingdao's foreign trade value rose 6.7 percent year-on-year to 738.78 billion yuan ($102.03 billion), accounting for 27.3 percent of the provincial total, according to statistics from Qingdao customs.

Among the 15 sub-provincial cities in China, the import and export value of Qingdao ranked fifth after Shenzhen, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

During this period, Qingdao's import and export of general trade increased 3.9 percent to 490.96 billion yuan, accounting for 66.5 percent of the city's total. The import and export of bonded logistics hit 127.26 billion yuan, up 30.1 percent, while the import and export of processing trade stood at 102.74 billion yuan, up 2.9 percent.

Private enterprises continued to dominate the city's foreign trade, with total value hitting 511.92 billion yuan, up 11.2 percent year-on-year, and accounted for 69.3 percent of the city's total.

The import and export of foreign-invested enterprises totaled 130.38 billion yuan, down 8.3 percent, and the figure for local State-owned enterprises hit 96.26 billion yuan, up 8.8 percent.

ASEAN, the United States and the European Union were the city's top three trade partners. During the period, Qingdao's trade volume with ASEAN and the US amounted to 138.55 billion yuan and 84.45 billion yuan, up 28.1 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively. Its trade with the EU totaled 78.52 billion yuan, down 3.5 percent year-on-year.

The city's trade with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative hit 255.37 billion yuan, up 22 percent.