I'm Buying 25–100 Kg of Wax at a Time — How Should I Rotate Inventory so Older Material Is Used Before Newer Deliveries?

Why rotation matters even when wax keeps for years

Soy wax is a forgiving material to hold. Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464 and Premium Coconut Soy Wax CSI 468 both carry a stated shelf life of 60 months in cool, dry storage. So when you move to buying 25–100 kg at a time, rotation is less about racing an expiry date and more about three quieter risks.

The first is the forgotten carton. New deliveries are stacked in front of or on top of old ones, and the oldest wax sits untouched at the back for far longer than anyone intended, sometimes in the warmest corner of the room. The second is storage damage: a carton near a wall, a window or the floor is more exposed to heat, damp and crushing than one in the middle of a rack. The third, and most important for consistency, is lot mixing. If packs from three deliveries are all open at once, your batches draw from whichever is nearest, and you lose the ability to say which wax went into which candle.

A good rotation system solves all three with the same rule: oldest in, oldest out, one lot open at a time.

A physical layout that enforces first in, first out

Rotation that depends on people remembering to dig for the old carton will fail on the first busy day. The layout has to make the oldest wax the easiest wax to reach.

Whichever you choose, keep cartons off the floor on pallets or low racks, a little away from walls, and out of direct sunlight. Wax that has been warmed and cooled repeatedly on a sunny floor is a poor candidate for consistent candles, whatever its shelf life says.

Part-used large packs

A 50 kg pack is rarely used in one session. Once opened, fold and seal the bag tightly, write the date opened and an estimate of what remains on the outside, and return it to the front of its bay so it is the next wax taken. An open pack pushed to the back is the most likely candidate for moisture, dust and being forgotten, and it is also the easiest way to end up with two lots open at once.

Labels and a stock register that match the shelf

Every carton gets a large, readable receipt date and your receiving code on the side that faces out. A small sticker on the top is not enough once cartons are stacked. The receiving code links the carton to your receiving record, where any supplier batch marking is written down. For CSI deliveries, if the packs carry no marking you can use, ask CSI on WhatsApp (+91 7397976926) what batch details can be shared for that delivery, and record the answer; do not invent a lot structure for someone else's product.

The status column is what makes rotation automatic. Only one line per wax may say IN USE. When its last pack is issued, the line marked NEXT becomes IN USE, and the next oldest released line becomes NEXT. Anyone fetching wax checks the register, not the shelf, to see which delivery to take.

Worked example: how long does 100 kg actually last?

Rotation discipline only matters if stock sits for a while, so it helps to know how long a delivery lasts at your volume. Take 200 g candles at 8% fragrance load on total weight. Each candle needs 184 g of wax. Allowing the planning figure of 5% wastage, divide the wax requirement by 0.95.

A 100 kg wax holding therefore covers 100 ÷ 0.184 = about 543 candles before wastage, or roughly 516 after the 5% allowance. That number is your rotation clock. At a few hundred candles a month, 100 kg is one to two months of stock and turns over quickly. At lower volumes, it may sit for several months, which is when layout and the register start doing real work.

Run the same sum with your own candle size and load. If you pour 300 g candles, each needs 276 g of wax at 8%, and the same 100 kg covers far fewer candles, so the rotation clock ticks more quickly.

No 25 kg or 100 kg pack is listed on CSI's wax range. A 100 kg holding is built from packs, for example ten 10 kg packs of CSI 464, or two 50 kg packs of Natural Soy Pearl Wax. Larger quantities are quoted on WhatsApp. Buying in many packs is useful for rotation, because each pack is a small unit you can open in order.

Handling the changeover from one lot to the next

The moment one delivery runs out and the next begins is the moment consistency is most at risk. Plan it rather than let it happen mid-batch.

For a large order that must look and burn identically, plan the lot before the order starts, and make sure enough of one delivery is set aside for the whole run.

One honest caution. A long shelf life is not a reason to overbuy. Wax that will take many months to use ties up cash and floor space and spends that time exposed to whatever conditions your store has. Buy in quantities that turn over at a pace you can control, and let rotation keep the oldest stock moving.

Where this page fits

CSI already has guides that cover parts of this question. This page takes the production-floor angle; these go deeper on the rest:

Three things to buy for this job

Frequently asked questions