Iran war takes colour out of Japanese snack maker Calbee's chips packaging

Japan’s top maker of snacks Calbee, has landed on a creative solution to conserve oil-derived ​input materials: it will switch its brightly coloured packaging to black and white.

In an ‌eye-catching move, Tokyo-based Calbee on Tuesday said it would temporarily use only two ink colours on 14 of its products including its Potato Chips, Kappa Ebisen snacks and the Frugra breakfast cereal. Products with the revised packaging will ​hit store shelves from May 25, it said.

Calbee, which has the largest share of the ​domestic snacks market, said the initiative was aimed at maintaining stable shipments in ⁠response to the unstable supply affecting “certain raw materials” due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Japanese companies ​have lately sought to minimise the impact of rising costs and input 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.

Calbee’s Potato Chips are instantly recognisable for ​their multi-hued designs featuring product images on backgrounds that can be orange and yellow.

News of the ​77-year-old 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.

Asked about Calbee’s decision, a government spokesperson said domestic naphtha refining continues with the use of stockpiled crude oil, while imports from outside the Middle East have tripled in May compared with levels ​from before the Iran ​war broke out in ⁠late February.

“We have not received any reports of immediate supply disruption for printing ink or naphtha and recognise that Japan as a whole has secured ​the quantities required,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kei Sato said.

“Relevant ministries are ​working together ⁠and making efforts to communicate closely with impacted companies to grasp the situation,” he said, adding that a fact-finding hearing would take place on Tuesday.

Calbee said company representatives visited the farm ministry on Tuesday for ⁠an informal ​meeting but it had no details to share.

Around 20% of ​the world’s oil supply has been disrupted by the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran war began, ​triggering a global energy crisis.