Shandong, a major agricultural province in China, has conducted agricultural trade independently since 1985, and has gradually grown into the leader of the agricultural products trade in the country.

Since the implementation of reform and opening up, Shandong's agricultural production and agricultural trade development has been at the forefront among China's provinces.

According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, since 2001, Shandong's import and export value of agricultural products has ranked first in China for 17 consecutive years. 

In 2017, the import and export volume of agricultural products reached $31.09 billion, an increase of nearly 100 times compared with 1985. 

With the deepening of opening-up, the number of countries and regions trading agricultural products with Shandong province increased from 91 in 1993 to 199 in 2017. 

At present, the United States, Japan, Brazil, South Korea, the European Union and ASEAN have become major markets for Shandong's agricultural imports and exports. 

Among them, Japan, the European Union, ASEAN, South Korea and the United States are the main export markets. Imported agricultural products are mainly from the United States, Brazil, the European Union and ASEAN. 

In 2017, the import and export volume of the above-mentioned trading partners accounted for 73.8 percent of the total. 

Over the years of reform and opening up, Shandong has gradually formed an export structure of agricultural products with water and sea products, vegetables and fruits as the main body.

Especially since 1997, the export value of the three types of commodities accounted for more than 50 percent of the total export value of agricultural products in Shandong province. It has maintained above 50 percent since then and reached $10.3 billion in 2017. 

Meanwhile, aquatic products and cotton are also important imported agricultural products for Shandong, ranking first in China in terms of scale. In 2017, the import value and export value reached $2.5 billion and $870 million respectively. 

Shandong is the first comprehensive pilot area for new and old kinetic energy conversion in China. Relevant policies and measure has added new impetus to its agricultural development, which has led to the emergence of new forms and new models of agricultural products such as e-commerce.

Nowadays, a large number of high-quality agricultural products with distinctive local characteristics represented by Shouguang vegetables, Yantai apple, Jinxiang garlic, Juxian peanut and Longkou fensi (vermicelli made from bean starch) are exported overseas.

Imported soybean crushing and aquatic products processing have also been integrated with the international market. 

With the advancement of new and old kinetic energy conversion projects in the province, Shandong's agricultural products will continue to develop in their quality.