> 4 million to 6 million during WW II. This was primarily to ramp up beeswax production which had many war related uses. 

I shoot competitively and I hand-load my ammo, so I know this one - 

A significant amount of sugar production was occupied Japanese territory, so in WWII, it was more to replace sugar, as beeswax was no longer a munitions-grade component.

Beeswax, which is softer than paraffin, was replaced with paraffin on munitions, based on experience in WWI.  What happened was that beeswax picked up dust, dirt, sand, you name it.  It was "sticky".
The purpose of a wax on a munition of any size is to provide some lubrication for "chambering", the movement of the munition from the magazine to the firing chamber.  In automatic weapons, the accumulated dirt, dust and sand was problematic, and there were no more "paper cartridges" used in US-issued weapons.

Paraffin wax was harder, so it picked up far less gunk.  It was also a petroleum product, so it was far cheaper and easier to assure a predictable supply.

There certainly were other uses of beeswax, but it was not as strategically important as it was in WWI.  I still use beeswax zippers on parkas, backpacks, and anything else that will be out in the weather.

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