Qingdao Port, Shandong province [Photo/IC] 

In 2022, Qingdao's foreign trade volume posted a year-on-year growth of 7.4 percent, amounting to 911.72 billion yuan ($134.48 billion), according to statistics from Qingdao Customs.

The city's foreign trade value accounted for 27.4 percent of the provincial total and also ranked in the first place in Shandong province.

Among the 15 sub-provincial cities in China, Qingdao's foreign trade value ranked fifth after Shenzhen, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

Last year, Qingdao's general trade imports and exports increased by 4.5 percent and reached 602.99 billion yuan, which accounted for 66.1 percent of the city's total.

Private enterprises dominated the city's foreign trade and accounted for nearly 70 percent of the total figure. In 2022, the imports and exports of private enterprises in Qingdao reached 636.61 billion yuan, up by 11.6 percent, and accounted for 69.8 percent of the city's total.

In the same period, the figure of foreign-invested enterprises reached 155.9 billion yuan, down by 10.1 percent, while that of State-owned enterprises reached 118.96 billion yuan, up by 14.5 percent.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United States and the European Union were the city's top three trading markets in 2022, with trade volumes hitting 174.33 billion yuan, 101.08 billion yuan, and 94.47 billion yuan, respectively.

The city's trade with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 319.44 billion yuan, up 21 percent.