Japan crisp packs to go colourless due to Iran war crunch

TOKYO: Japan’s leading potato chip maker is feeling the crunch from shortages linked to the Iran war, swapping its signature orange-and-yellow packets for black and white.

A household name in Japan, Calbee is known for its savoury potato chips with an array of flavours from seaweed salt to soy sauce and butter.

The company said Tuesday it will “revise the packaging specifications” and use just “two colours” in packaging for 14 product lines beginning later this month or in June.

It did not say which two colours, but the statement showed photos of grey packaging.

Calbee blamed “supply instability for certain raw materials resulting from the escalating tensions in the Middle East”. Local media said the snack-maker has seen its procurement of printing ink compromised by shortages of naphtha, an oil byproduct used in a wide range of industries.

The goods affected included several potato chip products, as well as a breakfast cereal and Kappa Ebisen, a moreish shrimp snack known for the slogan “can’t stop, can’t stop”.

“We will continue to respond swiftly and flexibly to changes in the business environment, including geopolitical risks, while striving to deliver safe, reliable, and satisfying products,” the company said.

Another Japanese food company, Itoham Yonekyu Holdings, also said that going black-and-white or using different kinds of inks for some of its products were among possible options in the future, similarly blaming supply problems due to the Middle East conflict.

Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and its de facto closure since the war began in late February has sent prices soaring.

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi previously said Tokyo was expected to have enough naphtha-derived chemical products to last beyond the end of the year after boosting imports from outside the Middle East.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2026