Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a meeting of Cabinet ministers on the Middle East situation on April 30, 2026, in Tokyo. (Kyodo)
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Thursday said Japan is expected to have enough naphtha-derived chemical products to last beyond the end of the year after boosting imports outside the Middle East amid disruption from the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
Takaichi has previously said Japan could have a stockpile of more than six months’ worth of the material, which is necessary to produce chemicals widely used in manufacturing products, such as plastics, and in critical medical supplies.
Speaking at a meeting of Cabinet ministers on the Middle East situation, Takaichi said the imported naphtha and domestic stock mean the government “now expects (supplies) to extend further and continue beyond the end of the year.”
She said Japan’s procurements from overseas sources outside the Middle East, such as the United States, Algeria and Peru, in May will be triple their pre-conflict levels, with the imports expected to begin arriving in Japan from that month.
Following the outbreak of the conflict in late February, Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy shipping route, triggering supply disruptions and price rises for key commodities.
In April, the government said Japan held about four months’ worth of naphtha — a total of two months of procured imported naphtha and domestically refined naphtha plus two months of inventories of intermediate chemical products.