This morning, the Information Office of the Shandong Provincial People's Government held a press conference in its "Data Speaks: Shandong's Development" series, inviting senior officials from Jinan Customs and Qingdao Customs to brief on Shandong Province's foreign trade import and export situation in the first three quarters of 2026 and to answer reporters' questions.
Wang Hua, Deputy Director-General and Press Spokesperson of Qingdao Customs, presented the import and export situation of agricultural products in Shandong during the first three quarters. As a major agricultural province, Shandong has made outstanding contributions to safeguarding national food security, stabilizing the supply of important agricultural products, and spearheading the development of agricultural industrialization.
By fully leveraging both domestic and international markets and resources, Shandong has established an efficient agricultural product trade network. The province's agricultural product export scale has ranked first nationwide for the 27th consecutive year, and its agricultural product imports have also consistently ranked among the top in the country.
In the first three quarters of this year, Shandong's agricultural product import and export value reached 251.12 billion yuan, up 6.4% year-on-year, which is 1.1 percentage points higher than the national growth rate for agricultural product imports and exports, accounting for 14.4% of the national total during the same period. Among this, agricultural product exports totaled 128.84 billion yuan, up 5.8%, while agricultural product imports reached 122.28 billion yuan, up 7%. The following are the main characteristics:
First, monthly import and export operations remained stable. Agricultural products are directly tied to daily consumption demand and possess a strong "rigid demand" attribute, resulting in relatively stable trade operations. Since April of this year, Shandong's agricultural product import and export value has achieved year-on-year growth for six consecutive months, with trade scale remaining above 27 billion yuan. Specifically, agricultural product export value and import value each remained above 14 billion yuan and 13 billion yuan respectively. In the first three quarters, agricultural product trade contributed 0.4 percentage points to the province's export growth and 0.8 percentage points to its import growth, effectively supporting the steady growth of the province's overall foreign trade.
Second, major categories showed strong export momentum. In the first three quarters, Shandong's aquatic product exports reached 27.4 billion yuan, up 1.4%, of which fish fillets and fish meat exports totaled 11.77 billion yuan, up 19.9%. During the same period, dried and fresh fruits and nuts exports reached 8.36 billion yuan, up 9.8%. Among these, fresh apples, fresh pears, and fresh grapes saw export values rise by 5%, 4.7%, and 26.4% respectively. Meat exports totaled 4.55 billion yuan, up 62%, with poultry meat and processed meat exports both maintaining double-digit growth. In addition, deeply processed specialty agricultural products also achieved rapid export growth. Prepared animal feed, primarily pet food, reached 8.14 billion yuan in exports, up 9.2%, while stuffed pasta products such as dumplings, pan-fried dumplings, and wontons totaled 680 million yuan in exports, up 16.5%.
Third, imports were dominated by primary products. In the first three quarters, among Shandong's agricultural product imports, primary products accounted for 119.65 billion yuan, up 7.4%, representing 97.8% of total agricultural product import value. The vast domestic consumer market and Shandong's strong agricultural product processing capacity provided robust support for import growth. Grain was the largest import category, with an import value of 40.07 billion yuan, up 10.4%. Among this, soybean imports reached 34.18 billion yuan, up 10.3%, and barley imports totaled 2.44 billion yuan, up 6.1%. During the same period, aquatic product imports reached 27.26 billion yuan, up 19.9%. Additionally, imports of ASEAN durians and Egyptian frozen strawberries increased by 48% and 127.7% respectively in volume, continuously meeting the diversified consumption needs of the domestic market.
Fourth, agricultural product imports and exports became more balanced across cities. In the first three quarters, 12 out of the province's 16 cities achieved positive growth in agricultural product imports and exports. Qingdao's agricultural product imports and exports reached 102.51 billion yuan, up 8.5%, accounting for 40.8% of the province's total. In addition, Yantai, Weifang, and Rizhao recorded agricultural product import and export values of 32.96 billion yuan, 16.75 billion yuan, and 16.24 billion yuan respectively, growing by 4.2%, 8.5%, and 10.8%. Dongying, Tai'an, and Zaozhuang saw import and export growth rates exceeding 20%. The distribution of agricultural product import and export trade continued to optimize, with regional development becoming more balanced.
Fifth, exports to major markets maintained growth, with notable progress in developing emerging markets. Consumption capacity and consumption habits determine that traditional markets remain the primary destination for Shandong's agricultural product exports. In the first three quarters, Shandong's combined agricultural product exports to Japan, ASEAN, the European Union, South Korea, the United States, and the United Kingdom totaled 94.15 billion yuan, up 5.4%, accounting for 73.1% of the province's total agricultural product export value. While consolidating market share in traditional markets, significant progress was made in developing emerging markets, with agricultural product exports to Africa, Central Asia, and India growing by 24.3%, 35.7%, and 52.6% respectively.
Sixth, foreign trade market entities performed actively, with private enterprises accounting for over 80% of agricultural product imports and exports. In the first three quarters, the province had 9,363 enterprises with actual agricultural product import and export performance, an increase of 390 compared to the same period last year. Among them, 8,592 were private enterprises, with import and export values of 204.71 billion yuan, up 11.9%, accounting for 81.5% of total agricultural product import and export value. Private enterprises accounted for over 80% of both agricultural product exports and imports, continuously consolidating their position as the main force in agricultural product foreign trade.
Agriculture is the foundation of a nation, and a stable foundation brings peace to the country. On the basis of consolidating its advantages in agricultural production and processing scale, Shandong is continuously promoting agricultural quality upgrading and brand building. Standing at the critical juncture of the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," Customs will continue to introduce regulatory service measures to facilitate agricultural product trade. Through measures such as expanding quarantine access for agricultural and food products, implementing targeted assistance for specialty agricultural product exports, and strengthening responses to foreign technical trade measures, Customs will continue to promote the expansion and quality improvement of Shandong's agricultural product trade.
Comments