Oil crunch drains colour from Calbee, 1 of Japan’s favourite snacks

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Calbee, a popular Japanese snack brand, is changing its packaging to monochrome due to a naphtha shortage linked to the Strait of Hormuz closure. This supply instability is impacting the production of various products amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

One of Japan’s best-loved snack brands is switching to monochrome packaging for a number of its products due to a shortage of naphtha – a crude-oil derivative used in petrochemicals and printing inks – caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Calbee said it would “temporarily revise packaging specifications for certain products in response to supply instability affecting certain raw materials amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East”. The decision by the...