Turkey's organic food exports rose 17 percent year-on-year in 2017, the head of Aegean Dried Fruit Exporters' Association said Tuesday.

The country earned $87 million last year in revenue from organic food exports to 68 countries, mostly from raisins, dried figs, dried apricots, and nuts, Birol Celep said in a statement.

Celep said that the exports also rose by 10 percent on a weight basis compared to the previous year, hitting 21,000 tons.

"The actual export volume of organic food is at least fivefold the amount on record," Celep added, noting the difference stemmed from improper documentation on export declarations.

"The numbers appear lower since the products are not properly labeled as organic in export declarations," he said.

Celep added that the largest organic food buyer of Turkey products was Germany, followed by the U.S and France.