The economically booming Shandong Province in east China recorded 74.83 billion U.S. dollars in foreign trade in the first eight months of this year, representing a year-on-year growth of 24.7 percent.

In August alone, Shandong's foreign trade hit 10.55 billion U.S. dollars, up 28.9 percent. This was the first time for the province's external trade volume to exceed the 10-billion-U.S.-dollars mark, local customs sources said.

The fast growing local economy drove up demand for raw materials. Between January and August, Shandong's arrivals of raw materials, including crude oil, iron ore, cotton and soy bean, went up 40.9 percent year-on-year to 15.37 billion U.S. dollars worth, accounting for 42.3 percent of the province's total imports for the eight-month period.

Source: Xinhua