JINAN, Nov. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States has become the second largest trade partner of east China's Shandong Province, replacing Japan, a geographically close and long-time partner of the coastal province, according to local customs.

　　Trade between Shandong Province an d U.S. reached 9.72 billion US dollars by the end of October this year, with a year-on-year rise of 40.7 percent, statistics from Qingdao Customs show.

　　From January to October, Shandong's foreign trade amounted to 62.44 billion US dollars, up 27.8 percent compared to the same period during the previous year, exceeding the whole year's trade volume in 2004.

　　The import volume topped 24.89 billion dollars and the exports reached 37.55 billion, rising 21.2 percent and 32.6 percent respectively.

　　The Republic of Korea remained Shandong's largest trade partner with a trade volume of 12.82 billion dollar, a quarter of Shandong's total in January-October period, Japan slipped to the No. 3 partner.

　　Export of machinery, electronics, textiles and farm products saw robust growth, rising 56.1 percent, 12.4 percent and 21 percent respectively in October.

　　Foreign-invested enterprises, as a province's major engine in export and import, contributed more than half of Shandong's total trade volume, while private firms saw their foreign trade rising 72.3 percent from a year earlier. Enditem