Foreign trade of east China's Shandong Province rose 5.8 percent year on year in 2019 to over 2 trillion yuan (over 290 billion U.S. dollars), local customs authorities said Wednesday.
According to Qingdao Customs, Shandong's exports rose 5.3 percent year on year to 1.11 trillion yuan, while imports increased 6.4 percent to over 929 billion yuan.
In terms of major trade markets, ASEAN replaced the United States as Shandong's largest trading market in 2019, with total imports and exports up 15.2 percent year on year.
In addition, Shandong's trade volume with countries and regions along the Belt and Road increased significantly. The total trade value to these countries exceeded 603 billion yuan last year, up 15.9 percent year on year, accounting for 29.5 percent of the total foreign trade value of the province.
