Analysis of the Characteristics and Development Direction of Services Trade in Shandong Province of China

Abstract

Shandong is a significant province for foreign trade in China; however, it still faces shortcomings in the development of its service trade, as outlined below. Firstly, the scale of service trade is limited. Shandong’s service trade volume ranked sixth in China in 2022, lagging considerably behind Shanghai, Guangdong, Beijing, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Secondly, the proportion of service trade in Shandong compared to the overall national services trade volume falls below the national average, with the per capita scale even lower than the national average. Thirdly, Shandong’s service trade accounts for less than 10% of the province’s foreign trade, which is 3 percentage points below the national average. The insufficient development of Shandong’s service trade is mainly attributed to the weak performance of its own service industry and the limited scale of attracting foreign services investment. Accelerating the development of producer services in Shandong, promoting the intelligent upgrading of consumer services, and continuously promoting reform and opening up in the service sector will be conducive to achieving high-quality development of services trade in Shandong.