CAIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's non-oil exports increased by 9 percent to exceed 21 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 compared to 19.3 billion in 2016, an official report said on Tuesday.

According to the report of the General Organization of Export and Import Control (GOEIC), Egypt's exports of construction material got the lion's share as it reached about 5.1 billion dollars in 2017, marking a 3-percent rise.

"The exports of chemicals and fertilizers increased by 32 percent to hit 4.4 billion dollars in 2017," said the GOEIC report.

It noted that the country's exports of foodstuff reached 2.8 billion, engineering and electronic products 2.6 billion and agricultural crops 2.2 billion.

However, exports of medical industries products declined by about 8 percent, furniture by 11 percent, handmade products 12 percent and leather material and products by 9 percent. None of them exceeded half a billion dollar in exports in 2017.

Egypt has been suffering economic slowdown over the past few years of political instability and relevant security challenges.

The country hopes to increase production and exportation and to revive tourism as ways to boost its economy, side by side with a strict three-year economic reform plan, which started in late 2016, that is based on austerity measures, fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes.

Including full local currency floatation, Egypt's reform plan has been encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, half of which has already been delivered to the most populous Arab country.