Sourcing Nova has shared a good bit about our extensive research, and we want to continue providing you the best information.  This brings us to our research about scented candles.

It is the goal you complete reading this piece and learn two valuable pieces of information: 1. how to select a proper candle supplier; 2.where to find candle manufacturers based on a thorough understanding of the candle industry supply chain.  It is our belief a customer who has ample information will lead to better purchase decisions for your products.

Making candles at home VS wholesale candles for resale

Sourcing Nova is of the opinion you starting your own candle business with homemade candles.

Tip: DIY scented candles is an excellent primer into understanding the production process and manufacturing costs. Unique candle making recipes is also a good marketing selling point. However, making your own candles requires considerable time, effort and investment.  If you plan selling candles on Amazon, it may make sense expand your business. When you have accumulated enough business acumen, it is time to tap that knowledge and find a candle supplier that best suits your customers needs.

 

Note: Excellent candle manufacturers have many available soy candle recipes, more choices can help you expand the product line; They have machine to make candles，manufacturing capability is faster than pure handmade; you can refer to their practices, combined with your own knowledge, to make a candle procurement plan for yourself. Maybe someday，best candles in the world will be born on your hands.

 

Where can I buy candles?

You have two options available to you: candle vendors and candle makers.

  • Candle vendors：Candle vendors include wholesalers and distributors.  Vendors do not have the ability to make candles but function as the middleman between you and the candle manufacturer.  These candle companies fill B2B platforms like Alibaba.
  • Candle makers：Candle makers or candle manufacturers – they are the same thing.  In China, we refer to them  as candle factories. Candle makers can be sub-divided into several types.  There are some that only sell their own luxury candle brands.  We refer to these makers as OBM.  Yankee Candle is an OBM candle maker. Some candle makers not only sell their own brands of candles, but also produce for other brands. These makers do all three: OBM, ODM and OEM.  Chinakingking is one such candle supplier.   Lastly, there are the makers who do OEM and ODM exclusively.

Related Post: OEM, ODM and OBM – A Primer On Each

 

How to find candle wholesale suppliers?

Visit Alibaba.com; enter candles in the search box; click search.  Voila!  Candles for miles.

 

Many guides use this system, but this is not what we believe you should know.  We want you to understand the candle buying process.  This process starts from the manufacturer on the supply chain and industrial clusters of Chinese aromatherapy candles.

 

This is an infographic for Chinese scented candles supply chain.

chinese scented candles supply chain
chinese scented candles supply chain

The most upstream enterprise of the supply chain is for making candles supplies . There are four main candle making ingredients: wax for candle making, candle fragrances, candle jars and wicks.

 

Candle making wax Industrial Clusters

The main ingredients for making aromatherapy candles are wax and essential oils. Scented candle wax is divided into paraffin, bean wax and beeswax.

 

Paraffin Industrial clusters

Paraffin is a common by-product of the oil industry, and China is the largest paraffin producer in the world.

 

Paraffin is used for cheapest candles, (Note: Scented candles made by paraffin are low-end products.  Sourcing Nova will not buy aromatherapy candles containing paraffin.)

 

The northeast portion of China is a traditional oil production area, so the industrial cluster of Chinese paraffin is also here.

 

Historically, paraffin candles are one of China’s important export products and represents an important function entering into foreign exchange. Enterprises that produce paraffin candles must be close to raw materials, and thos enterprises must be close to the export ports, too. After decades of development, the largest candle manufacturer was born in Qingdao, Shandong. Please see the map:

China Shandong Qingdao

Image Resource：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingdao

 

Beeswax Industry Cluster

Bees’ Industrial Clusters are in Henan, Hebei and Sichuan.

Henan in China

Image Resource：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henan

 

Henan and Hebei represent a large agricultural portion of China due to the abundance of plains in the area.  These provinces provide bees with a substantial food source.  It was natural these areas became the main Industrial Cluster of bee products.

 

Sichuan and Yunnan have China’s most beautiful natural scenery, pleasant climate and a wide variety of flowers. Yunnan has an exceptionally long spring. The flowers industry is well developed and ideal for bees and apiaries (bee farms).

Sichuan in China

Image Resource : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan

 

Our choice of beeswax suppliers are from Henan.  This is the location of the China Bee Wax Committee.  Sourcing Nova obtains much of the inside information of many high-quality factories. This inside information is not available on the Internet and requires a personal visit to gain the better information.

 

Soy wax Industry Cluster

We believe soy wax is best wax for candle making.

 

Soy wax is a product after hydrogenation of soybean oil, so the industrial cluster of soy wax is in the main production area of soybean oil. Shandong Rizhao Port is the main port of China’s imported soybeans.  The beans are mainly imported from the U.S.

 

Henan and Hebei are the main distribution grounds. China’s Soy WAX manufacturers focus on two provinces in Henan and Hebei.

 

Candle fragrances Industry Cluster

Note: Fragrances for candles is not China’s strongest portion of the candle industry. The global flavor industry is held by European and American giants. The best candle fragrance oil suppliers mainly include: Givaudan, Firmenich, IFF, Symrise and Maxeyivy. China’s high-end aromatherapy candles mainly rely on imported essential oils.

 

Industrial clusters classified by candle types:

There are a lot of candle types.  The basic candles are in three categories based around the shape:basic candles, fancy candles and scented candles.

 

Basic candles Industrial clusters

Basic candles refer to a simple geometric graphic candle.  This includes pillar, cubes, taper, tea light candles and votive candles. The Basic Candles Industrial Cluster is mainly centered  in the petroleum industry. China’s biggest candle maker, Qingdao Jinwang Chemistry Co., Ltd., is in Qingdao.  This manufacturer mainly produces inexpensive candles.  They have customers likeWalmart, IKEA, Action, Next, Sainsbury’s, Carrefour and Metro.  If you  have seen the candle of Kingking logo in Wal-Mart, you have seen candles from Qingdao Jinwang Chemistry Co., Ltd.

 

Fancy candles Industrial Clusters

Fancy Candles refers to an external surface, packaging, container, shape and design (such as animal and plant) candles. Common Fancy Candles: Numeral Birthday Candles, twisty Birthday Candles and Metallic Gold Candles.

Numeral Birthday Candles
Numeral Birthday Candles

 

twisty Birthday Candles
twisty Birthday Candles
Metallic Gold Candles
Metallic Gold Candles

 

 

The main Industrial Cluster of Fancy Candles is in Dongwang Town, Ningjin, Hebei Province. Fancy Candles is a major industry in Dongwang Town, an annual output value of 1.2 billion yuan (almost 190 million U.S. dollars) and accounts for 80 percent of the national market share.  This is the largest FANCY Candles production base in China.

 

Putou village of the Dongwang Town started producing civil candles in the 1960s and in the 1990s, converted over to produce birthday candle supplies. There are currently 400 varieties, exporting to Asia, Europe and the United States.   The Fancy Candle industry directly and indirectly offers more 20,000 employment opportunities.

 

Scented candles Industry Clusters

Scented candles suppliers are mainly concentrated in Zhejiang and Guangdong in China. Yiwu has many candle wholesale suppliers.  These are middlemen, engaged in wholesale aromatherapy candles.

 

Note: Candle manufacturers in Guangdong offer luxury candle brands with OEM and ODM service. Some of them have their own brands of candles, but fall behind at marketing, resulting in low visibility to the majority of the candle buying industry.

 

The candle maker Sourcing Nova partners with knows how to make good smelling candles. They have mastered candles science and produce decent candles for high end candle brands.

 

Note: There are some world famous luxury and leisure brands that buy aromatherapy candles from these makers. For example, Louis Vuitton Supreme purchases products from the same manufacturers we use.  These purchases are luxury goods to high-end consumers.

 

How to wholesale scented candles from China

There are a lot of candles companies from Alibaba.

 

How do you know which one is best? Most of them claim “We are the best!” but cannot provide evidence of this fact.

 

Manufacturing aromatherapy candles are not rocket science. People need essential oil, bean wax, the wick and a glass jar.  The result is a simple aromatherapy candle. Making candles is one thing; making decent candles is another thing entirely.

 

Sourcing Nova uses the following criteria to select scented candle manufacturers:

    • Proper machinery: Proper machinery is key for capacity for any candle maker. Pure handmade is nothing more than a marketing term and has no promise of stability in the product or capacity.

 

    • Luxury candle fragrance oils: The candle flavors are the first consideration in a consumer purchase and is a key factor in the overall product cost. Decent candles must use luxury candle fragrance oils. Cheap essential oils cannot be substituted under any circumstances.There are various perfumed scented candles that appeal to a variety of customers. Scents from famous perfumers like: Coco Chanel, CK Euphoria, Hermes Terre d’Hermes, Dior J’adore, Dior Eau Sauvage and Dior Acquadi gio.These are popular fragrances. The essential oils are expensive as well.

 

    • Candles science: Top candle manufacturers keep laboratory chemists on staff for necessary chemical analyses. This means the chemists can make the same aroma based on the sample provided by the buyer.Sample composition analyzation requires Gas Chromatography technology and the staff to interpret the data.

 

  • Candle making recipes: A better candle manufacturer will have many high quality candle making recipes for customer taste and variety. Such recipes only come after considerable years of trial and error to reach the pinnacle of the perfect recipe.

 

What do you need for success in the candle industry?

Imagination and creativity.

 

The sky is the limit with your candle ideas.  This means the complete candle – the candle making ideas, the candle design ideas and candle scent name ideas.

 

Simple creative candle scent names are often all you need to raise you above the competition.  Remember Gwyneth Paltrow and her vagina scented candle?

 

Two simple phrases: This Smells Like My Vagina and This Smells Like My Orgasm created a candle buying frenzy among candle enthusiasts and people in general.

 

Final Thoughts

It should be evident that Sourcing Nova has an in-depth understanding of the Chinese supply chain of aromatherapy candles.  Moreover, we will only look for the best aromatherapy manufacturers to produce best candles in the world.

 

Quality must be guaranteed with your candles and candle business.  If you are looking into  aromatherapy candles, stop thinking about price and think about quality.

 

A bad candle will sell one time.  Decent candles will produce a long term, loyal customer base who will return for purchase after purchase.

 

Are you ready to start sourcing candles?  Let us know in the comments below.