I Need to Decide Between Buying 500 g or 1 Kg of a Fragrance Oil — How Can I Calculate Which Pack Size Matches My Expected Candle Production?
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How many candles does each pack make? At 200 g and 8% with a 5% allowance (16.8 g each): 500 g ≈ 29 candles, 1 kg ≈ 59. Without the allowance, 31 and 62.
Is 1 kg cheaper per gram than 500 g? For 43 of the 60 oils listing both sizes in stock, within 1%. 5 save 5% or more at 1 kg (up to 10.0%). Two, Saffron Cedarwood and Sage and Cedarwood, cost 32.9% more per gram at 1 kg on the listed prices. See per gram.
What does the choice cost me? The kilo ties up more cash now for oil you use later. For a flat-priced oil, two 500 g bottles bought a month apart cost almost exactly the same as one kilo and keep money in your account in between.
Months of cover
Convert the pack into candles, then into months. The candle count comes from the dose: 200 g at 8% of finished weight is 16 g of oil, and with a 5% pour-loss allowance (a working assumption) the budget is 16.8 g per candle. The months come from your own monthly output. Here is the table for a range of outputs:
| Candles per month | Oil per month | 500 g lasts | 1 kg lasts | Pack in the 1–3 month band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 168 g | 2.98 months | 5.95 months | 500 g |
| 20 | 336 g | 1.49 months | 2.98 months | Either |
| 30 | 504 g | 0.99 months | 1.98 months | 1 kg |
| 50 | 840 g | 0.60 months | 1.19 months | 1 kg |
| 75 | 1,260 g | 0.40 months | 0.79 months | Neither — below 1 month: buy 1 kg and set a reorder point |
| 100 | 1,680 g | 0.30 months | 0.60 months | Neither — below 1 month: buy 1 kg and set a reorder point |
The 1–3 month band is a working rule, not a specification. Its purpose is to balance three things: not paying the price and cash cost of oil that sits on the shelf, not reordering so often that one late delivery stops production, and not holding oil past the point where you would want to check it. CSI does not publish a shelf life per oil; ask on WhatsApp for the oils you use, keep bottles closed and cool, and use the oldest first. If your candles are not 200 g, scale the oil per candle: 150 g at 8% with 5% is 12.6 g, 100 g is 8.4 g. One kilo of coffee at 150 g and 500 g of lavender at 200 g work single bottles in detail.
Per gram: 500 g against 1 kg, oil by oil
Across the Fragrance Oils collection, 60 oils had both a 500 g and a 1 kg in stock on 24 September 2026. Comparing the kilo's price per gram with the 500 g's, oil by oil:
| Group | Oils | Examples (500 g → 1 kg) | 1 kg vs 2 × 500 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kilo saves 5% or more | 5 | Cinnamon ₹2,950.00 → ₹5,310.00 · Pumpkin Spice ₹2,950.00 → ₹5,310.00 · Love Spell ₹2,499.00 → ₹4,499.00 | saves ₹236.00–₹590.00 |
| Kilo saves 1–5% | 10 | British Rose ₹1,593.00 → ₹3,068.00 · Verbena ₹2,478.00 → ₹4,720.00 · Japanese Cherry Blossom ₹2,500.00 → ₹4,842.00 | saves ₹42.00–₹236.00 |
| Within ±1% (flat) | 43 | Lavender ₹2,620.00 → ₹5,221.00 · Sandalwood ₹2,513.40 → ₹5,026.80 · Jasmine ₹1,961.00 → ₹3,923.00 | between ₹1.00 dearer and ₹78.00 cheaper; 17 oils exactly ₹1.00 dearer |
| Kilo dearer by more than 1% | 2 | Saffron Cedarwood ₹2,584.20 → ₹6,867.60 · Sage and Cedarwood ₹2,584.20 → ₹6,867.60 | costs ₹1,699.20 more |
The median saving is 0.0%. On CSI's listed catalogue, moving from 500 g to 1 kg does not usually change the rate; the reliable per-gram step is at the bottom of the ladder, from 15 g to 50 g or 100 g. The five oils where the kilo saves 5% or more are Cinnamon (10.0%), Pumpkin Spice (10.0%), Love Spell (10.0%), Eucalyptus Spearmint (7.1%) and Forever Red (BBW Inspired) (7.1%). The two cedarwood oils run hard the other way on the listed prices: their 500 g is ₹5.17 a gram and their kilo ₹6.87. If you use either, buy 500 g bottles, and check the product page in case the listing has changed. For larger quantities than the listed packs, CSI quotes on WhatsApp; no discount figure is published.
The decision, step by step
Several sizes of the same scent change only the first step. If you pour 20 candles of 200 g and 20 of 100 g a month at 8% with a 5% allowance, monthly oil use is 20 × 16.8 g + 20 × 8.4 g = 504 g, and the table row for 30 candles of 200 g applies. The same goes for a scent used both on its own and as part of a blend: add the blend share to the single-scent use. The 70:30 lavender-vanilla page shows how a blend splits the oil use between two bottles.
Three oils, three answers
At 25 candles a month the monthly oil use is 25 × 16.8 = 420 g. A 500 g bottle lasts 1.19 months and a kilo 2.38 months. Both sit in the 1–3 month band, so the price decides it:
| Oil | 500 g | 1 kg | Per gram 500 g / 1 kg | 1 kg vs 2 × 500 g | Better buy at this output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinnamon | ₹2,950.00 | ₹5,310.00 | ₹5.90 / ₹5.31 | saves ₹590.00 | 1 kg |
| Lavender | ₹2,620.00 | ₹5,221.00 | ₹5.24 / ₹5.22 | saves ₹19.00 | 500 g (cash flow; the saving is ₹19.00) |
| Saffron Cedarwood | ₹2,584.20 | ₹6,867.60 | ₹5.17 / ₹6.87 | costs ₹1,699.20 more | 500 g, always |
Change the output and the answers shift. At 10 candles a month, 168 g a month, the kilo would last nearly six months, which is outside the band for all three oils; 500 g is the pack, even for Cinnamon, unless you are building festive stock. At 60 candles a month, a kilo lasts just under a month for all three, and the question becomes when to reorder rather than which size to buy. Only in the middle, where both sizes fit the band, does the per-gram difference get the final say.
| Pack | Price | Per gram | Candles at 16.8 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 g | ₹106.20 | ₹7.08 | 0 |
| 50 g | ₹330.40 | ₹6.61 | 2 |
| 100 g | ₹590.00 | ₹5.90 | 5 |
| 500 g | ₹2,950.00 | ₹5.90 | 29 |
| 1 kg | ₹5,310.00 | ₹5.31 | 59 |
| Pack | Price | Per gram | Candles at 16.8 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 g | ₹105.02 | ₹7.00 | 0 |
| 50 g | ₹270.00 | ₹5.40 | 2 |
| 100 g | ₹540.00 | ₹5.40 | 5 |
| 500 g | ₹2,620.00 | ₹5.24 | 29 |
| 1 kg | ₹5,221.00 | ₹5.22 | 59 |
| Pack | Price | Per gram | Candles at 16.8 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 g | ₹103.84 | ₹6.92 | 0 |
| 50 g | ₹354.00 | ₹7.08 | 2 |
| 100 g | ₹696.20 | ₹6.96 | 5 |
| 500 g | ₹2,584.20 | ₹5.17 | 29 |
| 1 kg | ₹6,867.60 | ₹6.87 | 59 |
Cash, shelf life and stock-outs
For a flat-priced oil, the kilo costs about the same as two 500 g bottles, but you pay for the second half up front. For Lavender that is ₹2,601.00 more at the till today for oil you will not open until next month or later. For a small business with several scents, that difference, repeated across the range, is real working capital. The trade-off is reorder frequency: one bottle means one order, and a stock-out on a best-seller costs more than the cash you saved.
Two other routes are worth knowing. If your output sits between the two sizes, a 500 g plus a few 100 g bottles is often closer to your real need than a kilo; most oils cost the same per gram at 100 g and 500 g. And if you are buying small packs repeatedly, when kilo buying becomes economical calculates the point at which buying by the kilogram beats repeated 100 g and 500 g orders, including the oils where it never does.
The pack decision sits inside a wider stock plan. Stock for about 100 candles a month with a one-week delivery sets a minimum holding for wax and oil together, and keeping 30 days of raw-material inventory converts monthly unit sales into kilograms of each.
CANDLEMAKINGSUPPLIESINDIA supplies raw materials, not finished candles. This page shows that for most of our oils the kilo is not cheaper per gram than two 500 g bottles, names the five where it is, and the two where it costs more.
All prices are CSI live listings pulled on 24 September 2026. The 60-oil comparison covers every oil with both a 500 g and a 1 kg in stock that day; per-gram figures and savings are arithmetic on those prices.
The 16.8 g per candle (200 g at 8% plus a 5% pour-loss allowance) and the 1–3 month band are working assumptions. CSI does not publish shelf life per oil; ask for it on WhatsApp at +91 7397976926, along with GST invoicing, MSDS or IFRA documentation.
Frequently asked questions
- At What Production Quantity Does Buying Fragrance Oil by the Kilogram Become More Economical than Repeatedly Purchasing 100 g or 500 g Packs?
- I Have 500 g of Lavender Fragrance Oil — How Many 200 g Candles Can I Produce if My Final Formula Uses 8% Fragrance?
- I Have 1 Kg of Coffee Fragrance Oil — How Many 150 g Candles Can I Make at 8% Fragrance Load?
- I Have 5 Kg of Fragrance Oil — How Many 200 g Finished Candles Can I Produce at 8% Before I Need to Reorder?
- My Candle Uses a 70:30 Lavender-Vanilla Fragrance Blend — How Much of Each Oil Do I Need for 100 × 200 g Candles at 8% Total Fragrance?
- I Sell 1,000 Candles Every Month Across 10 Fragrances — How Do I Calculate Fragrance Inventory When Some Scents Sell Five Times Faster than Others?
- I'm Launching Three New Fragrances but Don't Know Their Demand Yet — How Much Fragrance Oil Should I Initially Buy Compared with Established Bestsellers?
- My Fragrance Supplier Offers a Better Rate at 5 Kg — How Many Monthly Candle Sales Do I Need Before Buying That Quantity Makes Sense?
Customer reviews: The six reviews at the top of this page are genuine, published Judge.me reviews left by CSI customers on the product pages named on each card — Eco Candle Wicks, Premium Candle Wicking Needle and Bamboo Wick Holder. They are general product reviews, not assessments of the guidance set out here. Names, star ratings, dates and products are as recorded by Judge.me and wording is unedited. "Verified buyer" appears only on the three reviews Judge.me recorded as verified — Monika Deep, Subhankar Roy and Sneha Tamang; the reviews from Ashwini, LJ and Lalitha Jagan are published but not recorded as verified, and carry no badge.
Figures pulled 24 September 2026, CSI live pricing: Cinnamon ₹106.20 / 15 g, ₹330.40 / 50 g, ₹590.00 / 100 g, ₹2,950.00 / 500 g, ₹5,310.00 / 1 kg. Lavender ₹105.02 / 15 g, ₹270.00 / 50 g, ₹540.00 / 100 g, ₹2,620.00 / 500 g, ₹5,221.00 / 1 kg. Saffron Cedarwood ₹103.84 / 15 g, ₹354.00 / 50 g, ₹696.20 / 100 g, ₹2,584.20 / 500 g, ₹6,867.60 / 1 kg; Sage and Cedarwood the same from 50 g. Other 500 g → 1 kg prices quoted: Pumpkin Spice ₹2,950.00 → ₹5,310.00; Love Spell ₹2,499.00 → ₹4,499.00; Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹1,652.00 → ₹3,068.00; Forever Red ₹3,499.00 → ₹6,499.00; British Rose ₹1,593.00 → ₹3,068.00; Verbena ₹2,478.00 → ₹4,720.00; Japanese Cherry Blossom ₹2,500.00 → ₹4,842.00; Sandalwood ₹2,513.40 → ₹5,026.80; Jasmine ₹1,961.00 → ₹3,923.00. Comparison set: 60 oils with 500 g and 1 kg both in stock; 43 within ±1% per gram; 5 saving 5% or more; 2 dearer by more than 1%; median 0.0%.
Non-price figures and assumptions: Oil per candle 16.8 g = 200 g × 8% × 1.05 (5% pour-loss allowance, a working assumption); counts rounded down. The 1–3 month cover band is a working rule. Savings compare the 1 kg price with two 500 g bottles of the same oil. CSI publishes no shelf life per oil. Diwali 2026 falls on 8 November. Prices and availability change — the linked product pages are always authoritative.