Slack Wax (Light & Heavy, Oil Content 5-35%)

Light and heavy slack wax for board sizing, wax emulsions, matches and wax refining

Slack wax is the crude wax a lube-oil refinery takes off when it chills and solvent-filters wax distillate to make base oil, and it is sold before the de-oiling that turns it into semi- or fully refined paraffin. It is mostly normal paraffins with some isoparaffins, and the grade is set by the distillate it came from and the oil it still holds: light slack wax from lighter neutral distillates carries a higher normal-paraffin share, and heavy slack wax, defined in refinery literature as slack wax with a kinematic viscosity above 7 cSt at 100 °C, comes from heavier neutrals. Oil content on trade sheets runs from about 5% up to 35%. ASTM D721 measures oil in waxes containing up to 15% oil, so for higher-oil lots the COA states the method used; melting or congealing point (ASTM D87 or D938) and needle penetration (ASTM D1321) complete the sheet. The customs code is HS 2712.90, other petroleum waxes. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 2712.90 total USD 1.76 billion across 83 reporters, led by the USA at USD 262 million and 163,200 MT, the Netherlands USD 165 million, Germany USD 143 million, China USD 132 million, Egypt USD 130 million and 64,600 MT, Poland USD 96 million and 108,000 MT, Canada USD 83 million, Italy USD 77 million, Thailand USD 69 million and 66,800 MT and Hungary USD 60 million. The heading also carries semi-refined and microcrystalline wax, and the figures are declared export values, not offers.

The main buyer is a wood-panel mill: slack wax is the standard sizing agent in oriented strand board, medium-density fibreboard and particle board, where it cuts the rate at which the board takes up water, and mills generally buy it emulsified because an emulsion needs no heated storage or transfer. Light grades are preferred for particle board and MDF, and heavy grades are customary in OSB, where higher press temperatures need a less volatile wax. Other buyers are emulsion makers, match factories and wax refiners that de-oil slack wax into paraffin. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers slack wax from refineries in the USA, Egypt, Germany, Poland, Thailand, India and China, with the refinery and lot named on the certificate of analysis, a certificate of origin that matches the load port, and the producer's safety data sheet. Packing is confirmed per product and pack with the refinery, in drums or bags in 20-ft or 40-ft dry containers, and trades run on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Send the light or heavy grade, oil content, melting point, volume, pack and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.