Foreign trade in Jinan, Shandong province, reached a historic high in the first half of this year, with the city's total imports and exports hitting 124.09 billion yuan ($17.34 billion), up 25.9 percent year-on-year, according to official data released on July 23.

From January to June, the city's exports rose 16.7 percent year-on-year to 80.41 billion yuan, while imports climbed 47.3 percent year-on-year to 43.68 billion yuan.

Private enterprises were the main drivers of the city's import and export growth. In the first half of this year, a total of 5,709 private firms contributed 76.21 billion yuan in foreign trade, up 19 percent year-on-year. State-owned enterprises posted 23.97 billion yuan in exports and imports, while foreign-invested firms remained stable at 23.85 billion yuan.

Trade with emerging markets expanded rapidly. Jinan's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached 27.28 billion yuan, up 34 percent year-on-year, with Africa up 42.6 percent year-on-year to 15.96 billion yuan and with Latin America up 31.1 percent year-on-year to 14.28 billion yuan.

During the period, electromechanical products dominated exports at 54.27 billion yuan, up 20.7 percent year-on-year. New energy vehicle exports jumped 3.5 times, totaling over 300 million yuan.

Imports of mechanical, energy, and mineral products grew significantly, accounting for 72.8 percent of total imports, driven by industrial upgrades and supportive government policies.