Which Candle Fragrance Oils Should I Always Keep in Stock?

Four tests for core stock

"Always keep in stock" means holding an oil in depth — usually a 500 g or 1 kg pack — so a busy week or a bulk order never finds the shelf empty. That is worth doing for a few oils and wasteful for the rest. The four tests below decide which is which. Test one uses your own data. Tests two and three use the supplier's price list and stock status, which is where CSI's catalogue comes in. Test four uses your product range.

Test one cannot be answered by a supplier. CSI publishes no unit sales, and even the Fragrance Oils collection's best-selling sort — the only popularity signal we have — reflects what candle makers buy from us, not what your customers buy from you. Use the sort to choose which oils to try; use your own sales to choose which to hold. If you are too new to have six months of records, Which Fragrance Oils Should I Buy to Start a Candle Business? and Best 5 Fragrance Oils to Start a Candle Business are the better starting points, and core stock can wait.

Stock depth, read from the catalogue

Stock depth is the practical test. An oil you would like to hold in depth is only core stock if you can actually buy it deep. On 24 September 2026, 92 of the 93 oils listed a 1 kg and 73 had it in stock. The other 19 were out of stock at 1 kg that day, and one (Mogra) lists no 1 kg at all. The matrix above shows the top 20 of the sort; the table below lists every oil whose 1 kg was out of stock on the pull date.

Two patterns stand out. Most of the list is inspired-by and specialist oils — Freshwater, Into The Night, Butterfly, the Baccarat Rouge 540 and Acqua Di Gio inspired oils — which also sit in the highest price bands. And several are simply sold out at every size, such as Rajnigandha and Spiced Rum. An oil in this table can still be in your range; it should not be one you promise a client in kilo quantities without a WhatsApp check first. Stock changes daily, so re-check on the day.

What holding the kilo costs

On CSI's listed prices, the 1 kg is within 1% of the 100 g per gram for 52 of the 91 oils that list both. Only 24 show a saving of 5% or more. For core stock this matters: holding a kilo ties up cash either way, but for some oils that cash earns a return and for others it does not. The table shows a year of use at an illustrative 30 candles a month (480 g of oil a month, 5.76 kg a year) for each of the core six, bought at 100 g rates and at 1 kg rates.

At this usage a kilo lasts just over two months, which is a comfortable reorder rhythm. The savings are uneven. Mango Coconut and Eucalyptus Spearmint save the most, because their kilo discounts are the deepest. Lavender and Roasted Coffee, with discounts of 3.3% and 4.2%, save about ₹900 to ₹1,000 a year each. For an oil priced flat — Sandalwood, Woody Oud, Gilli Mitti, Blue Ocean — the saving would be nil, and the only reason to hold the kilo is to avoid running out. The 30-candle rate is an assumption; scale the year column to your own sales.

An example core six

Here is how the tests play out on CSI's catalogue for a maker whose records show steady sales across fresh, floral, gourmand and fruity scents. The first test is yours to apply; the example assumes these six pass it. All six were in stock at every size on the pull date, and every one of them is cheaper per gram at 1 kg than at 100 g.

Notice what is not here. Sandalwood and Dark Vanilla sit higher in the best-selling sort than several of these, and many makers sell them steadily. They would pass tests one, two and four. They are left out of this example because the kilo saves little on either — Sandalwood is priced flat — so a maker could hold them at 500 g or 100 g with no penalty. If your records say Sandalwood is your top seller, hold its kilo anyway: security is a good enough reason when the scent is essential.

Oils to keep small

The mirror image of core stock is the list of oils you deliberately keep at 100 g or 50 g. They are not worse oils. They fail one of the tests: seasonal rather than steady, priced flat so the kilo buys nothing, too expensive to tie up in depth, or used in only one product.

Keeping these small is not a risk if you reorder on time. How to set reorder levels and how to avoid running out of best-selling fragrances cover the timing; How Much Fragrance Oil Inventory Should a Candle Manufacturer Keep? covers how much inventory in total a manufacturer should hold, and How to Buy Candle Fragrance Oils in Bulk Every Month sets out a monthly buying routine.

The core-stock order

Wax here is bought as seven 5 kg packs rather than 10 kg packs, because on CSI's listing two 5 kg packs (₹5,990.00) cost ₹9.00 less than one 10 kg (₹5,999.00). The difference is small; it is there, so we say so. At 180 candles a month, Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464 at ₹507.40 a kilo would cut the wax line noticeably; test it with your core oils before switching.

Frequently asked questions