Interpretation of the Economic and Social Performance of Shandong Province in the First Quarter: Leading Equipment Manufacturing and Emerging Market Rise

At present, the global economy is shrouded in fog and trade protectionism is rampant. Shandong's economy has delivered a remarkable report card at this time: the province's gross domestic product in the first quarter was 2346.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.0% at constant prices, achieving two "better than" results: better than the national average and better than expected.

Exceeding expectations is due to the precise implementation of macro policies, the continuous enhancement of market resilience, and the strong burst of innovation momentum. From the economic data of the first quarter, we can clearly see the advantages and resilience of Shandong's economy, and we can also see that Shandong is using systematic thinking to solve development problems, and the momentum of "progress" is constantly increasing.

Reconstructing Competitive Advantage in Industrial Upgrading

Industry is the backbone of the real economy. In the first quarter economic operation data, the performance of Shandong's industrial sector is very impressive. Among them, there are two numbers worth paying attention to.

13.9% - In the first quarter, the equipment manufacturing industry, as the core of the industry, demonstrated astonishing explosive power, with a growth rate of 13.9% in added value, 5.7 percentage points higher than the total scale industry, and 3.9 percentage points higher than the whole year of the previous year. Shandong has built its equipment manufacturing industry into a strong engine of economic growth through policy guidance, technological innovation, and industrial synergy.

13.3% - The added value of high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size increased by 13.3%, which is 5.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate of all industries above designated size. The wave of new technologies has accelerated the development of industries, with industrial robot and optoelectronic device production increasing by 76.2% and 25.4% respectively. Shandong is steadily advancing its transformation and upgrading, taking the initiative in manufacturing competition.

Industry is the cornerstone of stable economic operation and also the advantage of Shandong. This year, Shandong is firmly committed to implementing the "number one project" of industrial economy, and has specially formulated an annual action plan to continuously strengthen specific measures, further consolidating the clear guidance and strong synergy of vigorously promoting industry and jointly promoting industry. It is not difficult to see from this first quarter industrial economic portrait that the pace of industrial transformation and upgrading in Shandong is accelerating, and the cultivation of new quality productivity is accelerating, providing new impetus for economic growth.

The market also gave positive feedback on the development prospects of Shandong's industry - in the first quarter, industrial investment increased by 20.6% year on year, 8.6 percentage points higher than the national level, 7.8 percentage points higher than the same period last year, accounting for 42.9% of the province's fixed assets investment, 6 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

'Super Large Market' Willing to Buy and Dare to Buy

The recovery of the consumer market is also an important footnote to Shandong's economy exceeding expectations.

As the main indicator for measuring consumption, in the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the province increased by 5.6% year-on-year, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from the previous year, becoming an important sign of the stabilization of the consumer market.

Boosting consumption, the policy 'combination punch' continues to strike. Before the Spring Festival, Shandong launched the "2025 New Year Consumption Season" series of activities, setting off a peak in promoting consumption during the Spring Festival; Introduce the Implementation Plan for Boosting Consumption, issue ten action plans, form a "1+N" policy system, and lead and support the province to boost consumption. After the Spring Festival, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government held a provincial conference on boosting consumption, guiding the whole province to "do everything possible to expand consumption and make every effort to stabilize growth", providing strong support for high-quality economic development. Under the four measures of upgrading commodity consumption, improving service consumption, cultivating new types of consumption, and innovating consumption scenarios, the province's consumption has become more active and steadily increasing. In the first quarter, the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods strongly boosted consumption by over 31 billion yuan.

The deep driving force behind consumption growth comes from the steady increase in residents' income and the continuous optimization of consumption structure.

In the first quarter, the per capita disposable income of residents in the province increased by 5.6% year-on-year in nominal terms, and the per capita disposable income of rural residents increased by 5.9%, exceeding the growth rate of urban residents. The retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas increased by 6.0%, also surpassing those in urban areas. The vast rural areas are becoming a "new blue ocean" for consumption growth. The consumption structure of residents continues to optimize. In the first quarter, the operating income of the cultural, sports, and entertainment industries increased by 20.0%, reflecting the people's yearning for a better life and the trend of consumption upgrading.

The exploration of the potential of the domestic demand market is essentially a positive interaction between policies and the market. The population size of Shandong's "double over one billion" is both a market advantage and a development opportunity. How to continuously transform the demographic dividend into a consumption dividend? Liu Jia, deputy researcher at the Regional Economics Institute of the Provincial Macro Economic Research Institute, suggested that we should continue to make good use of the national policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods, and promote stable and positive consumption of bulk commodities such as automobiles and home appliances. At the same time, tailored measures will be taken to promote the real estate market to quickly stop falling and stabilize, continuously unleashing the potential of domestic demand.

Breakthrough in foreign trade

Against the backdrop of rising global trade protectionism and intensifying geopolitical conflicts, the "counter trend upward trend" of Shandong's foreign trade is particularly eye-catching. The growth rate of the total import and export of goods was 5.9%, which was 4.6 percentage points higher than the national average and set a new historical high for the same period.

This growth is not simply a scale expansion, but the result of structural optimization and kinetic energy conversion.

合作空间进一步拓展——以新兴市场为主体的共建“一带一路”国家为外贸增长提供新动能。具体来看，一季度，全省对欧盟、日韩等传统市场出口均实现正增长，对非洲、中亚、东欧等新兴市场出口分别增长17.4%、29.2%、12.6%，对共建“一带一路”国家出口占比超七成。把鸡蛋分散到更多篮子里，这种转型考验的不只是山东对国际市场变化的洞察力，更是复杂环境中主动作为的魄力。

优势行业表现突出——一季度，山东继续保持全国农产品出口第一大省地位，农产品出口值增长6.7%；其他优势行业出口也实现较快增长，游戏机、船舶、集装箱出口值分别增长120.9%、35.4%、40.8%；集成电路和电动汽车出口值分别增长49.7%和70.4%。这些板块的高速攀升，进一步证明了山东外贸从“量的积累”向“质的飞跃”的转变。

经营主体活跃度增强——海关数据显示，一季度，山东有进出口记录的外贸经营主体超5.5万家，比去年同期增加3400余家。其中，民营企业5.04万家，合计进出口6237.5亿元，增长6.9%，占进出口总值的76%，提升0.7个百分点，外贸主力军作用凸显。这一现象背后，是山东持续优化营商环境、激发经营主体活力的成果。

青岛海关政治部主任袁涛分析，山东有着扎实的产业基础，外贸发展基本盘稳固，韧性强、潜力大，有条件继续推动进出口向好发展。

Information source: Dazhong Daily