Data from Qingdao Customs on January 6 show that Qingdao’s imports and exports in 2024 surpassed the RMB900 bln mark and amounted to RMB907.67 bln, representing 26.8% of Shandong Province’s total, and with a 3.6% year-on-year increase, 0.1 percentage point higher than the provincial growth rate.

In terms of the total volume of imports and exports, Qingdao is only behind Beijing among the cities in northern China. In regard to the total value, Qingdao ranked 5th among 15 sub-provincial cities, only next to Shenzhen, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Xiamen.

With a 12% year-on-year increase, 4.9 percentage points higher than the national or the provincial growth rate, and with a 41% contribution rate for the province’s exports, Qingdao’s exports in 2024 surpassed the RMB500 bln for the first time and amounted to RMB527.82 bln, helping exports across the province to edge up 2.9 percentage points.

Foreign trade in Qingdao bottomed out and staged a strong comeback in the second half of 2024. Notably, monthly rise in exports maintained a two-digit growth. As indicated by the monthly data, Qingdao’s exports held steady at more than RMB46 bln in August and September, saw a peak annual growth rate of 26.8% in October,and climbed 24.7% year on year to RMB49.72 bln in December. Qingdao’s exports over the year excelled in innovation. Over the period, exports of high-tech and high-value-added mechanical and electrical products grew 17.1% year on year to RMB267.57 bln, representing 50.7% of the total exports, up 2.2 percentage points from the year before, and helping exports to grow 8.3 percentage points by playing an increasingly important role in sustaining economic growth. To be specific, household appliances, automobile spare parts, container building and shipbuilding recorded exports of RMB40.95 bln, RMB24.25 bln, RMB22.19 bln and RMB10.6 bln, increasing 20.7%, 4.7%, 82.3% and 68.1%, respectively.  (Liu Lanxing)