Guwahati, July 31: Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) is sending two more consignments of wax to the US and Mexico by next month.

The refinery today said it had flagged off its first consignment of 20 metric tonnes of paraffin to Sri Lanka from the Inland Container Depot (ICD), Amingaon, last week.

A.C. Das, terminal manager, Container Corporation of India Limited (Concor), R.N. Doley, superintendent of customs, ICD Amingaon, NRL marketing officers and others were present during the flagging-off ceremony.

ICDs are inland points away from sea ports formed to help exporters and importers to handle their shipments near their place of location. ICD Amingaon is managed by Concor India - a central PSU.

The refinery has already exported wax to 18 countries worldwide and the consignment to Sri Lanka is the 19th one.

"After we export to the US and Mexico, we would have 21 countries on our export list," an NRL official said.

The NRL has exported 5,466.95 metric tonnes of paraffin wax till now.

"There is a huge demand for NRL wax and we are fighting hard to keep up with the orders," the official said.

The NRL's wax plant was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 5 last year.

The 50,000-metric tonne wax plant commissioned in March 2015 at a cost of Rs 676 crore was developed with indigenous technology by the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, Engineers India Limited and NRL.

Paraffin wax is produced only in refineries which have wax-production units.

It is used in making candles, tarpaulin sheets, food wrappers and PVC pipes while microcrystalline wax finds widespread application in the manufacture of tyres, rubber products, paints and polishes, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.