In the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Qingdao’s open economy gained momentum on the new track.

In the period from 2021 to 2024, foreign trade in Qingdao saw an average annual growth of 9.1%, one percentage point higher than the national growth rate. Qingdao is currently home to 2,563 cross-border e-commerce companies, which generated a cumulative total of RMB397.5 bln in imports and exports. Qingdao ranked among the first tier for a third consecutive year in the comprehensive evaluation of Chinese comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce. Thanks to the sea-land-air-rail integration, Qingdao has built 114 warehouses in 41 countries and regions, which boast a storage area of more than 1 million square meters.

Over recent years, foreign trade in Qingdao has expanded from “sales of goods abroad” to “service dominance”. In the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Qingdao consistently ranked first in Shandong Province in regard to trade in services, which in 2024 amounted to more than RMB156 bln and comprising 42.4% of the province’s total. Qingdao wrapped up 133 pilot programs for service trade innovation, and scored 28 original institutional innovation achievements. Two cases including financial services for overseas power stations operation and maintenance were rated by the State Council as the Best Practice Cases for Pilot Programs, and two state level service export bases were approved. (Liu Lanxing)

Thousands of Chinese-made export-bound NEVs are to be loaded in Qingdao Port.  By Liang Chao