Tai'an has been ranked 52nd in China and 6th in Shandong province in the 2022 China's top 100 foreign trade cities list, which was recently published by the General Administration of Customs in the magazine China Customs.

Tai'an had posted remarkable growth in both quantity and quality of foreign trade in 2022. The city's total import and export volume reached 40.59 billion yuan ($5.7 billion), an increase of 39.5 percent compared to the previous year, the second highest in the province in terms of growth rate.

From January to October this year, the city's total import and export volume reached 37.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 30.5 percent, ranking third in the province. Its growth rate was 27.7 percentage points higher than the provincial average. 

The selection of the top 100 cities in China for foreign trade is carried out by the General Administration of Customs and is an important evaluation of the level and quality of foreign trade development in Chinese cities. 

The selection data comes from customs statistics and is based on comprehensive national economic data. 

The selection criteria include five aspects: level of competitiveness, structural competitiveness, efficiency competitiveness, innovation competitiveness, and potential competitiveness in foreign trade.