A ship loads containers at a terminal in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]

Qingdao came in 12th place on the 2016 China Top 100 Foreign Trade Cities list recently released by China Customs, a magazine sponsored by China General Administration of Customs.

The city amassed a comprehensive score of 72.7 points, up four places nationwide from last year's position and taking the lead in Shandong province.

The top 10 runners on the list are Shenzhen, Shanghai, Dongguan, Suzhou, Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Tianjin, Ningbo and Beijing.

The country's provincial foreign trade powers Jiangsu, Shandong and Guangdong had 10 cities respectively on the list and while Zhejiang had 9 cities hitting the list.

The main criteria for the appraisal include foreign trade level competitiveness, structural competitiveness, return competitiveness, development competitiveness and potential competitiveness.

According to the Qingdao Customs, the total import and export of Shandong province recorded in the first half of 2017 reached 876.16 billion yuan ($130.29 million), up 24.1 percent year-on-year, among which the total export-import volume of Qingdao topped 251.49 billion yuan, up 26.5 percent than the same period last year. That accounts for 28.7 percent of the total in the province.