The international nut market is difficult to calculate. Frost in the flowering period can reduce the harvest by half, as it happened in 2014 virtually overnight in Turkey with hazelnut kernels. This led to price increases up to 250 percent. Drought in California set the price for almonds  by 42 percent in 2015. Turbulent times for nut traders like Behnam Keyaniyan. He says: "The markets are becoming increasingly volatile. Formerly you could have lunch in peace. Today, you constantly risk to miss  something.“

Hamburg is the most important European trading centre for nuts. Around 370,000 tonnes annually are imported into Germany - most of it about the Hamburger Port. Largest customer is the confectionery industry.  Keyaniyan has specialised in this group of customers. His goods come

from all over the world: hazelnuts from Turkey, almonds from the USA, coconuts from the Philippines.

His family is since more than 80 years in business. In this time has changed a lot. The question of raw material quality has always been of great importance. Keyaniyan works as a certified company with fixed quality standards, that meet the customer requirements. These are ensured by the decades of

grown business relationships in the countries of origin.

Profound new challenges have been added. There are the increasing market dynamics on the one hand: Today, commodity markets are internationalised throughout. Great economies such as China and India influence the market more and more: as a producer, as major consumers, but also as influential and partly market-determining dealers. The increasing digital networking of the market participants increases the pressure to make decisions.

Another risk factor are the climatic changes. Keyaniyan: "Regional crop failures have always existed. But the weather extremes increase and with it the risk of large area failures." Here it comes that entire production regions relocate. The network of suppliers was therefore also constantly in motion. Also political trade risks increase - in some countries through customs duties and state interventions, but also through sanctions, such as towards Russia. Dealers like Keyaniyan secure themselves against it through the structure of purchase alternatives in various countries.

Not to be underestimated are exchange rate risks. 80 percent of all commercial transactions

handles Keyaniyan in US dollars. Exchange rate fluctuations can quickly push individual trades into the red. Keyaniyan offers its customers his decades of experience in these topics under the

keyword "strategic risk management. In doing so, it shall rely, inter alia, on the foreign exchange specialists of the Hamburger Sparkasse. "We had the Haspa for a long time only for domestic transactions on the screen", remembers the Hamburger with Iranian roots. "In the meantime, we are happy to have the team on our side."

The importance of banking services for the commercial business is always immanent. A timely

delivery of documents at the sometimes short transit times from Morocco, Spain and Turkey is important. So the Haspa has its own special courier on the road, who brings the documents personally. Already here you can see the advantages of close cooperation. "Our bank advisors have a feel for how things are going in the port", says Keyaniyan. This is what Thomas Leppin also sees who at Haspa is responsible for the international business: "Here in Hamburg there is a lot that can be assumed unspoken. For example the famous "Hamburger Usance" in document collection,

where the Bank offers the customer the delivery documents in safe hands. Keyaniyan about the smooth cooperation: "It is extreme comfortable to pick up the phone and take the opportunity to talk about market developments as well. That makes this side of the business predictable.”