Naphtha shortage in Japan leads to packaging changes, price hikes

TOKYO – Due to the situation in the Middle East, Japan is facing a shortage of naphtha, a petroleum product used as a raw material for many everyday products.

The shortage has forced manufacturers to change their food packaging designs or raise prices. Despite the government’s efforts to diversify sources, bottlenecks in the supply chain remain unresolved.

Calbee notified major supermarkets and other retailers on May 8 that it would switch to black-and-white packaging for its potato chips and other products due to an unstable supply of printing ink made from naphtha. The snack maker said printing in black and white will halve its ink usage.

Additionally, Nisshin Seifun Welna will stop printing the cooking time in red on its spaghetti brands.

Lawson has switched the lids for its small hot coffees from plastic to paper. The convenience store chain plans to replace the lids at 100 stores this fiscal year.

“We are reviewing all packaging materials,” Lawson president Sadanobu Takemasu said.

Aeon plans to cut back on the use of trays and the number of colours used in packaging for its Topvalu brand.

Restaurant chain Gyoza No Manshu stopped selling refrigerated gyoza dumplings, which come in plastic trays, in the Kanto region in May.

“I can feel the ripple effect,” said a woman in her 60s who went to a store in Kawagoe, Saitama prefecture, on May 18, referring to the impact of the naphtha shortage.

Hoarding

Naphtha is refined from crude oil just like petrol and kerosene. It is processed into ethylene and other products that are then used as raw materials for plastics and synthetic rubber.

The Japan Printing Ink Makers Association said demand for organic solvents used in ink has surged. “There are signs of hoarding,” said Nippon Paint Holdings president Yuichiro Wakatsuki. A spokesperson for packaging manufacturer Toppan Holdings said the company has not been able to receive the solvent it ordered.

Japan has long imported over 40 per cent of the naphtha it uses from the Middle East. Supplies have been disrupted by the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Finance Ministry’s March trade statistics showed imports of naphtha and other volatile oils from the Middle East fell by 36.9 per cent from 2025. Domestic prices have also risen; the Bank of Japan’s Corporate Goods Price Index in April showed a naphtha price that was 83.2 per cent higher than in February.

Charging for ice packs

The impact is beginning to be felt in retail prices as well.

Mizkan Holdings will raise the price of its Kinnotsubu natto as much as 20 per cent from June, due to soaring costs for plastic film and sauce packaging. Takanofoods will raise prices for its Okame Natto brand by 15 per cent.

Many chemical product makers are small and midsize enterprises. Trycompany, an ice pack manufacturer in Shizuoka prefecture, will raise prices by around 20 per cent from June due to rising costs for the nylon and polyethylene used to wrap refrigerants.

From June, Patisserie Framboisier’s store in Gifu will begin charging 40 yen (S$0.30) for large ice packs to keep cakes cool. “We want customers to consider whether they really need them and use fewer,” the store said.

Senior researcher Kazutaka Kobara at Japanese think-tank NLI Research Institute said: “There are many companies downstream of the distribution sector, making it difficult for the government to keep track of them.

“Financial and other forms of support are needed for small and midsize businesses with little purchasing power.” THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK