A container ship is seen at the Qingdao port in East China's Shandong Province on June 3, 2025. Photo: VCG

 
The China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area in Qingdao city, East China's Shandong Province, recorded 53.26 billion yuan ($7.36 billion) in trade with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member nations in the first seven months of 2025, a robust 26.1 percent year-on-year increase, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Monday.

Of the total, exports to other SCO member states reached 26.88 billion yuan, up 21.5 percent year-on-year, while imports from those countries stood at 26.38 billion yuan, a 31 percent increase, according to the customs data.

The demonstration area's industrial clustering advantages have fueled rapid export growth, with the export value of electromechanical products such as refrigerators and washing machines rising by 13.8 percent, and that of textiles and garments increasing by 27.6 percent.

During the same period, the demonstration area leveraged overseas resources and actively expanded its import categories, bringing seafood from Russia's Far East and dried fruits and dairy products from Central Asia to Chinese consumers' tables to meet their growing demand for diversity. Imports of agricultural and food products such as frozen cod and dried chili peppers exceeded 8 billion yuan, up 14.7 percent year-on-year, according to the official data. 

In 2018, the demonstration area was established in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

Bian Yongzu, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times on Monday that the 26.1 percent trade rise was striking given the global trade slowdown. He attributed the growth to the high level of political mutual trust fostered by the Belt and Road Initiative, with SCO summits and other high-level exchanges laying a solid foundation for deeper economic cooperation.

Bian noted strong economic complementarity between the two sides: Central Asian countries are resource-rich but less developed in light manufacturing, while Qingdao city and the broad Shandong province excel in this sector, especially in home appliances. Leading brands such as Qingdao-based Haier, Hisense and Aucma enjoy strong reputations for quality and are highly competitive in overseas markets, including Central Asia.

Bian added that Qingdao's role as a major port city gives landlocked Central Asian nations a gateway to global markets. "The demonstration area has become a bridge that boosts economic complementarity and opens wider room for cooperation, which is why bilateral trade has grown so quickly this year," he said.

China's trade with other SCO member states reached $512.54 billion in 2024, up 2.7 percent from a year earlier, and stood at $204.92 billion in the first five months of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 0.8 percent, underscoring the vast growth potential of economic and trade cooperation in the SCO region, the GAC said on July 2.

Global Times