Schlüter & Maack
175 Years of International Trade

From the very outset, Schlüter & Maack has devoted itself to the challenges of world markets. During the period from 1820 to the beginning of World War I, the company's interest focused on trade with North, Central and South America. In addition to coffee, meat and cattle products, the company imported Chile saltpeter, which for centuries was highly coveted as the only raw material for the manufacture of aniline dye, explosive materials, fertilizer and sodium nitrate. In 1866, Schlüter & Maack took over the lucrative representation of the Liebig Company in Uruguay. For nearly fifty years, the company's legendary meat extract molded the corporate image, in addition to import of phosphate and ferrous sulfide. The end of the First World War marked a major turning point in the company's successful corporate history. The trading company lost important overseas partners. Sailing ships, which had crossed the Atlantic since 1909, were confiscated as spoils of war, along with their cargoes.

The success of sugar imports also benefited other business sectors. In the 1950's, the company resumed its traditional trade with coffee, pulses and sugar containing feed. The formation of the European Economic Community in 1958, caused structural changes in foreign trade. Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy for Sugar forced Schlüter & Maack to change its way of doing business, i.e., from sugar import to exporting German sugar surpluses to world markets. Today, the expanding EU domestic market, with some 300 million consumers, presents the company with new challenges. Based on a tradition of over 100 years in international trading, the company explored new paths, in addition to pursuing its traditional avenues. This included trade with socialist countries since the 1950's, such as the GDR, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and primarily, Cuba. Schlüter & Maack confirmed its good reputation as a dependable partner in this sensitive sector.

Yet the company's good reputation was not only limited to foreign countries. In 1993 the company integrated a new trading team expanding the activities into dried fruits and cocoa: Schlüter & Maack Handelsgesellschaft mbH is today an affilate company - with Rainer Lückenhausen and Heiner Sperling as further partners.

1998 Schlüter & Maack, through the acquisition of RICHARD ZOELLNER GmbH, has become a major european supplier of mustard seed. A special crop mainly grown in North America and Eastern Europe - mustard seed complements very well the company's traditional activities in pulses.

2001- through the acquisition of KRUSE BACKSAATEN in Bielefeld - Schlüter & Maack complemented its activities in the supply of rawmaterials for the bakery industry. Schlüter & Maack Group uses here synergies in sourcing, processing and distribution for bakery seeds like sunflower kernels, sesame seeds, pumpkinseed kernels and poppy seed.

A sturdy house is built on a solid foundation. The wealth of experience gathered in the past has become modern building blocks. Schlüter & Maack 's cooperation with world-wide relief organizations is just as much a part of its day-today operations as is the marketing of sugar, pulses, seeds and coffee. Today, a phone call to Mali has the same significance as in the old days the final handshake closing a deal in Hamburg's old warehouse city.