Calbee has announced its black and white packaging for some of its most loved products, as the supply of the ingredient used to make coloured ink is hit by the West Asia crisis<\/p>\n
The Iran war might be taking away the colour from your favourite snack packets. Japanese snack-maker Calbee has announced its black and white packaging for some of its most loved products, as the supply of the ingredient used to make coloured ink is hit by the West Asia crisis.<\/p>\n
The company has said that the new packaging for products, including crisps and prawn crackers, will hit the shelves in Japan from May 25. This is the latest instance of how the Iran War and the Strait of Hormuz crisis have impacted daily-use products.<\/p>\n
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD<\/p>\n
Calbee said in a statement that the changes are a response to \u201csupply instability affecting raw materials amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis measure is intended to help maintain a stable supply of products,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Naptha shortfall takes away colour<\/p>\n
Supplies of naphtha, an oil-refining byproduct used in the production of ink and plastics, have also been severely disrupted.<\/p>\n
Since the conflict began, naphtha prices across Asia have nearly doubled, driving up costs for businesses throughout the region.<\/p>\n
Before the war, nearly 40 per cent of Japan\u2019s naphtha imports came from West Asia, Japan\u2019s Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kei Sato told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that the government is looking to expand its naptha supplies from countries outside West Asia, including the US.<\/p>\n
Takaichi vows safe passage through Hormuz<\/p>\n
Last month, Takaichi said that she would continue all diplomatic efforts to ensure the passage of all vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
Takaichi made the comment after phone talks with\u00a0\u00a0Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n
Takaichi said that in the process of ensuring the safe passage of a\u00a0\u00a0Japanese-related vessel through the Strait of Hormuz, she personally appealed directly to the president and, together with the foreign minister and the embassy, carried out various diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n
First Published:
\nMay 13, 2026, 12:16 IST<\/p>\n
Home<\/a>World<\/a>Iran war takes colour out from Japan’s favourite snack packagingEnd of Article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calbee has announced its black and white packaging for some of its most loved products, as the supply…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16956,16958,16955,8,16959,4488,16957,33,16960,1686],"class_list":{"0":"post-21460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-calbee-black-and-white-packaging","9":"tag-coloured-ink-shortage","10":"tag-iran-war-impact-on-japanese-snacks","11":"tag-japan","12":"tag-japan-naphtha-imports","13":"tag-middle-east-tensions","14":"tag-naphtha-supply-disruption","15":"tag-nihon","16":"tag-sanae-takaichi-diplomacy","17":"tag-strait-of-hormuz-crisis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}