Food & Produce Packaging
Harvest doesn’t reschedule. When the crop comes off, the bins are either in the shed or they’re a problem, and every grower has a story about the season a supplier let them down.
CMTP builds fruit bins, potato bins, bulk bins, produce crates and food-grade pallets for growers, packing sheds, wholesalers and exporters. Manufacturing sites in regional growing country, Mildura among them, plus Tasmania and Adelaide, mean your packaging is made near the paddock it’s headed for, not freighted across the country during your busiest week.
Food packaging suppliers who started out making bins for growers
CMTP began in a workshop in Colac, Victoria in 1976, building potato and onion bins for growers down the road. Fifty years on it is still family owned and still run by the family that started it. Around 250 people across eleven manufacturing sites in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania now make produce bins and fresh produce packaging for growers, packing sheds, wholesalers and exporters.
Being one of the few food packaging suppliers who actually manufacture matters most in the fortnight before harvest. We make what you order on our own equipment, at the site closest to your shed, so the freight leg is short and the delivery date holds when everyone in the district wants bins at once. Sites at Mildura, in Tasmania and in Adelaide put production in growing country rather than in a warehouse three states away.
The range comes from the one place: fruit bins, potato bins, apple bins and vegetable bins, bulk bins for the packing line, produce crates, cartons and food safe pallets. Design and engineering sits in house, so we measure the product, design the bin around it and prototype before a production run. CMTP is also the only pallet supplier in Australia with HACCP International certification, which is what puts HACCP certified pallets under food that has to pass an audit.
what goes wrong with produce packag
Fruit ripens on its own schedule. A bin order that slips a fortnight isn’t an inconvenience, it’s crop sitting in the sun or pickers stood down. Harvest is the one time of year when a supplier running late costs you real money by the day
The wrong bin quietly eats your margin. Too deep and the bottom layer carries the weight of everything above it. Rough interiors mark soft fruit. Bad stacking sends load through the produce instead of the bin. None of it shows up until grading, when it’s too late.
Fresh produce is the worst cargo in the world to have stuck in quarantine. If the timber packaging isn’t ISPM 15 compliant and stamped, your shipment can sit at the destination port while its shelf life runs out, and there’s no fixing that after the fact.
How CMTP solves them
With manufacturing sites in regional produce country and eleven across Australia, bins are built close to where they’re filled. Growers and packers set up scheduled pre-season supply so volumes are agreed before the crush, and every order carries a confirmed delivery date, tracked against our 95 per cent DIFOT target.
A potato bin and an apple bin are not the same job. Our design and engineering team builds bins to suit the crop: the right depth to limit compression, clean interiors, stacking strength that carries the load through the bin rather than the produce, and a prototype to approve before the production run.
Export bins, crates and pallets are ISPM 15 compliant and individually stamped, heat treated (minimum 56 degrees for 30 minutes) rather than chemically fumigated, which matters when the cargo is food. Kiln-dried timber keeps moisture out of the equation on the water.
Products built for food and produce
Each links to its product page:
Bulk bins
flat-pack composite bins that work as transport and storage in one
Wooden cases, crates and produce bins
custom fruit bins, potato bins and vegetable bins built to the crop
FoodXP pallets
HACCP International certified through the Pal-giene process
Plastic pallets
hygienic and washable where cleanliness standards demand it
ISPM 15 certified export pallets
for produce and food heading offshore
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ISO 9001 Certified - Colac -
ISO 9001 Certified - Dandenong
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ISPM 15 Certified -
HACCP Certified
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Related Services
Logistics & Delivery
pre-season scheduled supply, delivered against a 95 per cent DIFOT target
Design & Engineering
bins and crates designed around the crop, prototyped before production
Contract Packaging
our teams pack at your shed or facility when harvest needs extra hands
Australia-wide Service
With teams across 11 manufacturing facilities across Australia, we’re able to reach your location quickly and provide the service you need on time.
Victoria
Colac – Head Office
Derrimut
Dandenong South
Mildura
Queensland
Clontarf
Brendale
South Australia
Adelaide
Partner Alliances
Perth
Darwin
Tasmania
Branxholm
Scottsdale
Frequently Asked Questions
What bins do you make for fresh produce?
Fruit bins, potato bins, vegetable bins and bulk bins, in timber, composite cardboard or a mix, in standard sizes or custom-built to your crop and handling equipment. Flat-pack options are available where storage space between seasons matters.
Do you supply HACCP certified pallets?
Yes. Through the Pal-giene manufacturing process, CMTP is the only HACCP International certified pallet supplier in Australia. Ask for foodXP pallets on any food or produce line where audits are part of life.
Can produce packaging be made export compliant?
Yes. Export bins, crates and pallets are ISPM 15 compliant and individually stamped at manufacture. Treatment is heat based and chemical free, so there’s nothing on the timber you wouldn’t want near food.
How do I reduce bruising in bulk bins?
Match the bin to the crop. Shallower bins limit the compression on the bottom layer, clean smooth interiors stop surface marking, and bins with proper stacking strength carry the weight of the stack through the structure instead of the produce. If your grading numbers say bruising, the bin design is the first place to look.
When should we order bins for harvest?
Before the season, not during it. Regular growers lock in scheduled supply ahead of harvest so the bins land before the crop does. Whenever you order, the quote comes with a confirmed delivery date, so you know exactly where you stand.
Are timber bins and pallets food safe?
They can be, if they’re made for it. Kiln-dried timber controls moisture, HACCP certified manufacture controls contamination risk, and plastic pallets cover situations that need washdown. Tell us the standard you’re audited against and we’ll match the packaging to it.