Middle East conflict leads to ink shortage; Japanese potato chip packaging loses its luster

The shipping disruptions caused by the conflicts in the Middle East have continued to affect global markets. The Japanese potato chip brand Calbee had to change its signature bright packaging to plain black and white due to a shortage of printing ink.

Calorbi Company announced this week that starting from later this month, the packaging of 14 of its products, including potato chips, shrimp crackers, and breakfast cereals, will only feature black and white colors. The company stated that this is due to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, which has led to unstable supply of certain raw materials.

According to Japanese media reports, there has been a shortage of naphtha recently, which has affected Calorie's purchase of printing ink. Naphtha is a petroleum by-product and is widely used in multiple industries as a raw material for printing ink and plastics.

Another Japanese food company, Itoham Yonekyu, is also considering changing the packaging of some of its products to black and white, or using different types of ink. Other companies have raised the prices of their products to cope with the cost pressure caused by the increase in packaging prices. (Agence France-Presse)