A Study of Environmental Impact on Manufacturing Products Trade in Shandong, China

Based on the situation that the trade of manufactured goods takes the main position in Shandong Province, this paper identifies Shandong industrial pollutant discharge by three indices, which are industrial effluent discharge, industrial SO2 emission, and solid waste disposal. Furthermore, it conducts an empirical analysis of the trade terms of pollution content transfer on nine identified industrial sectors. The conclusion is that the increase in industrial effluent discharge, industrial SO2 emission, and solid waste disposal has paralleled the growth of the GDP in Shandong. The rapid economic growth brings obvious negative impact on the environment. Compared with that in 1998, the increase in the pollution content of exports in 2007 indicated that more environmental costs were generated with the economic development in Shandong. There is a need for optimization of foreign trade structure in Shandong, especially the need for increasing import of the pollution intensive products and decreasing the export of the pollution intensive products. The research on the relationship between manufactured goods trade and the environmental impact will make a contribution to the adjustment of foreign trade and environmental policies.