Iran war oil shortage forces Japan snack giant to use black-and-white packaging

Japan’s biggest snack maker has been forced to use black-and-white packaging for some flagship products because of ink ingredient shortages caused by the strait of Hormuz blockade. Calbee said on Tuesday 14 of its products would switch to monochrome branding by the end of May. The company’s potato chip brands in particular are known for brightly coloured bag designs. Calbee said it was temporarily holding back the release of a new snack because of the shortage. Products with the revised packaging would hit store shelves from 25 May, it said. The move to black and white was forced on Calbee by disrupted supplies of naptha, an ink ingredient derived from petroleum. Calbee said the initiative was aimed at maintaining stable shipments in response to the unstable supply affecting “certain raw materials” due to the war . Japanese companies have lately sought to minimise the impact of rising costs and material shortages even as the government seeks to reassure the public and businesses over supplies. Printing ink requires naphtha, an oil derivative for which Japan relies on imports from the Middle East for about 40% of its consumption. News of the company’s move made headlines across Japan. It followed a brief panic in March among fans of a different crisps brand that temporarily stopped producing a popular snack citing difficulties in procuring the heavy oil needed to run its factory. …