Ozmert plastic Ltd, Turkish company manufacture the same ones as Hilltop.
Yes, Ian, I asked Hilltop a couple of years ago and they confirmed that their Hungarian acacia cut-comb arrives in the UK pre-packed in the Turkish Ozmertplastik boxes. After that I had an email conversation with the production manager at Ozmertplastik, who was happy to sell me 10,000 boxes
. There used to be an importer in Covent Garden in London, but no longer; transport costs are high from Turkey; I emailed the Turkish Beekeepers Association to see if they could help, but received no answer. I meant to contact Hilltop and see if they would buy in empty Ozmerplastik boxes to supply UK beekeepers, but never got around to it, and bought more Ross Rounds instead.
US alternatives from
pioneerplastics.com are the real thing but although the boxes cost pennies, import taxes kill any deal. I emailed Bee Equipment and suggested that as they already import from the US they could corner the market with the Pioneer boxes, which are light years ahead of anything on offer in the UK. BE agreed that it was a very good box, but I've not seen any action from them. Believe I suggested the Pioneer box to Thorne as well.
Ceracell.co.nz also do a good box and they would supply to the UK, but similar import duties kill the deal.
The solution from Thorne and others to use takeaway boxes is truly laughable and another example of UK beekeeping living in the past. If comb honey were packaged in a contemporary way it would appeal to a new, younger market, but given the current poor packaging and thus limited UK demand, equipment suppliers are unlikely to take a chance and order 10,000 of those very good Ozmertplastik boxes. If you have a contact at Hilltop, perhaps you could suggest the idea to them.
