Turkey’s organic food exports up 17% in 2017

Turkey’s organic food exports rose in value by 17% in 2017, according to the head of Aegean Dried Fruit and Products Exporters’ Association (EKMİD), Birol Celep.

“Turkey earned US$87 million last year in revenue from organic food exports to 68 countries,” said Celep on January 23. Export volumes of organics rose by 10% compared to the previous year, reaching 21,000 tons.

Turkey’s main organic exports are raisins, dried figs, nuts and dried apricots. Celep believes that the actual export volume of organic food is at least five times the amount recorded, attributing the discrepancy with the official figures to improper filing of export declarations.

“The numbers appear lower since the products are not properly labelled as organic in export declarations,” he said.

In 2017, the largest market for Turkey’s organic exports was Germany, followed by the US and France.