Shandong's agricultural product exports have ranked first in the country for 27 consecutive years

Shandong is a major exporter of agricultural products. Since the 14th Five Year Plan, in the face of increasingly strict global trade technology barriers and diversified consumer demand challenges, Qingdao Customs has relied on the Technical Trade Measures Research and Evaluation Base to promote the connection of domestic and foreign trade standard rules and credit systems, strengthen the research and analysis of technical trade measures and response guidance, vigorously cultivate export advantages, and establish the "Export to China" brand. According to Qingdao Customs statistics, the export value of agricultural products in Shandong will reach 166.83 billion yuan in 2025, ranking first in the country for 27 consecutive years in terms of export scale, and covering 207 countries and regions in the export market.

In the past, our company was often slow to respond to updates to foreign standards, and only acted hastily when products were detained or returned, resulting in huge losses and sometimes even losing the entire market. "Gu Shuai, the general manager of Shandong Junjie Food Co., Ltd., sighed during a customs investigation. The dilemma of information asymmetry and weak coping ability once put many Shandong agricultural product export enterprises in a passive position.

To reverse this situation, Qingdao Customs has used the Technical Trade Measures Research and Evaluation Base as a pivot to provide technical support for enterprises to break through barriers. In the field of apple industry, we support the construction of the first fruit technical trade measures research and evaluation base in northern China, and establish a three-level response mechanism covering major global markets, including "radar warning analysis and judgment compliance guidance". We have issued a total of 127 special warning notices, guided enterprises to successfully respond to 23 foreign technical trade measures, and helped 14 enterprises obtain qualification certifications from the European Union, the United States, and other countries, driving new export orders exceeding 10 million yuan.

We have collaborated with customs experts to make 18 technological improvements to the latest pesticide residue standards in the target market and successfully obtained the 'pass' for the North American market. Gu Shuai stated that the company's exports to the high-end market will increase by 28% year-on-year in 2025, and orders have been scheduled for the first half of this year. Recently, a batch of high-quality apples from the company were quickly released through the "Green Channel" of Yantai Customs under Qingdao Customs and sent to the international market. They will soon be listed on international supermarkets.

Similarly, the prefabricated vegetable industry in Laiyang has also leveraged technology to break through barriers and open up the market. As the "Hometown of Chinese Prefabricated Vegetables", Laiyang City has a profound industrial heritage. Since the first batch of frozen and processed vegetables were exported in the 1980s, it has formed a full industry chain from fields to dining tables. At present, there are more than 110 pre packaged vegetable export registration enterprises in the city, among which 15 enterprises have an annual export value exceeding 10 million US dollars, and their products are exported to more than 40 countries and regions around the world. In 2025, the export value of prefabricated vegetables in Laiyang will reach 720 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%.

Recently, in the intelligent production workshop of Laiyang Hengrun Food Co., Ltd., batches of frozen fried eggplants are passing through the automatic sorting system. Customs has helped us strengthen laboratory construction, enhance testing technology capabilities, strengthen product source control and self inspection self-control, and continuously improve the quality management system. "Liu Zhongtian, the deputy general manager of the company, introduced that the company's newly developed six Chinese style pre made dishes have entered European supermarkets, and the export value in January this year increased by 21.7% year-on-year.

We rely on the research and evaluation base for technical trade measures to effectively break through foreign technical barriers in the apple and pre packaged vegetable industries. By 2025, Yantai's agricultural product exports will exceed 18 billion yuan, with apples and pre packaged vegetables accounting for over 60%, becoming the cornerstone of foreign trade growth, "said Zhang Shuai, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Business Department of Yantai Customs.

2026 is the starting year of the 15th Five Year Plan. Qingdao Customs will take the construction of a smart customs as a starting point, create a digital platform for "technology and trade measures navigation", and provide compliance solutions for "one enterprise, one policy". At the same time, the customs actively promotes the establishment of a tripartite cooperation mechanism called "Customs Enterprise Research", and collaborates with institutions such as China Agricultural University and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences to carry out technological breakthroughs in key areas such as green prevention and control of apple pests and diseases, and cold chain microbial control of pre packaged vegetables, helping enterprises grasp the discourse power of core technical standards. (Li Weiwei, Kang Xiujun/Text)