Turkey sold abroad nearly 287,000 tons of hazelnuts during the export season, bringing in $1.78 billion in revenue, a national union of exporters said Monday.

The export volume between September 2017 and August 2018 saw a 21.6 percent jump in the same period from a year earlier, the Black Sea Hazelnut and Products Exporters' Union (KFMIB) announced.

Edip Sevinç, chairman of the KFMIB, said that hazelnut exports have great importance for Turkey because the sector provides foreign currency inflow and the country doesn't need to import anything in this regard.

"The hazelnut sector is also irreplaceable due to the employment it provides in the Black Sea region of Turkey," he added.

Around 75 percent of Turkey's hazelnut exports in this season were made to the EU countries, amounting to about $1.3 billion.

Despite the growing sales volume, the value of exports dropped by 5.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous season, according to the union's statistics.

The country exported nearly 236,000 tons of hazelnuts and earned $1.88 billion during the entire 2016-2017 export season.

Turkey is the world's largest exporter of hazelnut.