CAIRO, April 3- Egypt's exports to Spain achieved a major growth in 2017, reaching around € 640.5 million compared to € 420.5 million a year earlier, Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced on Tuesday. Minister Kabil said the exports rose by 52.3 per cent due to the remarkable increase in the Egyptian products' competitiveness in the Spanish market. Egypt's imports from Spain, meanwhile, declined by 8.6 per cent, reaching approximately € 1.3 billion last year, Kabil added. In a related context, the minister explained that Egypt-Spain trade volume also witnessed a tangible progress, reaching the value of around € 2.4 billion in 2017 compared to € 2.2 billion a year earlier, marking an increase by 8.4 per cent. Such growth of trade volume has helped curb trade deficit by 76.5 per cent, according to Kabil. Head of the Commercial Representation Authority, Ahmed Antar, attributed such growth in Egypt's exports to Spain to the major increase in steel exports which rose by 451 per cent, reaching € 92.2 million besides the increase in the exports of the organic chemical products which hit € 46 million.
