Qingdao Market Outlook

Qingdao business environment; established sector markets; business development areas; consumer and labour markets; local resources and special programs. If you're a Canadian SME and have questions about doing business in China, please send us your questions by email at SMEGateway@international.gc.ca. All services of the Trade Commissioner Service are FREE of charge to qualified Canadian clients. Hi, my name is Peter, and I am the Canadian Trade Office manager in Qingdao, located in Shandong Province. Shandong Province is famously rich in culture. After all, it is the home of the great Chinese philosopher, Confucius. But the province is also economically vibrant, with the country’s second-largest population at 98 million, and third-largest GDP. Shandong’s economy is heavily diversified, from agriculture and fisheries, to heavy industry, petrochemicals, automotive, home appliances and new technology. Shandong’s largest city and economic engine is Qingdao, with a population of 9 million. Even if you haven’t heard of Qingdao before, you probably recognize the city’s iconic Tsingtao Beer, a world famous brew made with Canadian barley. One of the city’s primary advantages is its location: Qingdao is about halfway between Beijing and Shanghai, both only an hour away by air. It is also home to China’s second-largest port, with good rail and road connections to the rest of China as well as South Korea and Japan. We’ve seen Canadian exports distributed from here all over China. Meanwhile, numerous Canadian suppliers of agri-food and seafood products have used Qingdao as a point of entry. Qingdao’s expanding infrastructure is creating opportunities for Canadian SMEs offering construction materials and architectural services. One example is the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, connecting Qingdao with neighboring Huangdao. It’s the world’s longest cross-sea bridge and features Canadian construction materials. Qingdao also lives up to the meaning of its name, “lush island”, with a beautiful coastline and natural environment. To uphold its reputation as a green city, Qingdao is modernizing its infrastructure, transportation and heavy industries to make them as green as possible. This has opened up opportunities for Canadian environmental and cleantech SMEs to be successful here. Qingdao is also very strong on marine research. Over half of China’s marine research institutions are based here, with China Ocean University as the largest marine-related university in Asia. Canadian schools have cooperated with Ocean University on marine research and education, with many Canadian ocean tech products being distributed from Qingdao to other parts of China. Shandong’s 140 post-secondary institutions are fertile ground for Canadian schools to find partners, build joint programs and recruit students. Canadian curriculum schools are growing here. Most recently, a new international school featuring New Brunswick’s curriculum. For a Canadian company to do business in China, it must be well prepared. Finding the right contacts or the right partner is not always easy. It’s important to run a background check on potential partners before you make a purchase order, negotiate a deal or enter into any sort of agreement. As you may know, relationships in China are very important for doing business — much more important that in North America. Being present on the ground is critical for relationship building and your networking. Having a footprint in Qingdao makes it possible to react quickly to new opportunities as they emerge. ...