Japanese snack maker turns packaging black and white amid ink shortage

Black-and-white snack bags are about to become a shortage signal in Japan. Calbee Inc. said 14 product varieties, including Potato Chips, Kappa Ebisen shrimp snacks and Frugra cereal, will switch to two-color packaging starting May 25 as the company adjusts to unstable supplies of naphtha-derived materials used in printing ink.

The contents will stay the same. Calbee said the packaging change will not affect product quality, only the way the snacks look on shelves and in convenience stores across Japan, where the Tokyo-based maker is a familiar name and a major presence in the packaged-food aisle. The company, founded in 1949, employs more than 5,000 group workers and ships its products to the U.S., China and Australia.

The move shows how a conflict far from Japan can ripple into ordinary consumer goods through a long supply chain. The war in Iran has disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil and product flows, pushing up energy costs and tightening supplies of materials made from petroleum. Naphtha, a petroleum-derived feedstock used in plastics and inks, sits deep in that chain. When naphtha supply becomes less stable, the effect can reach the packaging on a snack bag before it reaches the snack itself.

Japanese officials have tried to calm public concern, saying they had received no reports of immediate shortages of naphtha or printing ink and that the quantities needed for Japan had been secured so far. A government source said Japan sourced about 40% of its naphtha from the Middle East in 2024, while about 40% was produced domestically and roughly 20% came from other regions. A Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official said Japan had secured at least four months’ worth of domestic demand for naphtha or naphtha-derived products.

Calbee said the packaging change was a temporary response and that the timing could change depending on geopolitical conditions. The company also noted that it had announced an ambitious growth strategy in March, underscoring how quickly business plans can be overtaken by events in oil markets and shipping lanes. For now, the clearest sign of that pressure may be the stark new look of some of Japan’s most recognizable snacks.