From 9-12 September 2024, Behnam Keyaniyan, accompanied by his wife, visited our suppliers of almonds, apricot kernels, sultanas and pistachios in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

With an area of 448,900 square kilometres, Uzbekistan is 1.25 times the size of Germany. The 36 million inhabitants speak Uzbek, a Turkic language with a strong Persian influence. The script is Latin. Uzbekistan is a very modern country in which a lot of money is being invested. The landscape in the north-eastern part of the Central Asian state is very green and rich in water, and its extensive forests resemble German vegetation.

We source almonds, apricot kernels and sultanas from Uzbekistan. These products are grown on the plantations in a very natural and sustainable way. In Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, we visited the crushing plant and the warehouse for almond and apricot kernels, and in Samarkand, the medieval cultural centre of the Silk Road, we visited sultana production. The supporting programme there also included an excursion to the magnificent Registan Square. The landmark of Samarkand is framed by three schools, known as madrasahs, from the 15th and 17th centuries, which are skilfully decorated with mosaics.

We then travelled on to Tajikistan. Tajikistan has around 10 million inhabitants and covers around 40% of the area of Germany. The language is Persian, the script is Cyrillic. We obtain apricot and pistachio kernels from Tajikistan. We drive through extensive apricot plantations until we reach the production facility near Chudshand, the second largest city in Tajikistan. Here, our suppliers have built a modern and efficient factory that meets our needs. On 13 September, we returned to Hamburg via Istanbul.

Conclusion of the trip: ‘Supplier visits have always formed a basis for the friendly partnership network with our suppliers that has grown over decades. The most important thing here is mutual respect and appreciation of our business partners, their experience and their services. This was once again a very positive experience on this trip,’ says Behnam Keyaniyan, summarising his impressions.