Calbee to Use Black-and-White Packaging for 14 Snacks

Japanese snack maker Calbee Inc. announced Tuesday that it will switch to black-and-white packaging for 14 popular products starting May 25, a move prompted by supply disruptions in printing inks linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing conflict in Iran.

The affected items include potato chips in flavors such as lightly salted, consomme punch and seaweed salt, shrimp snacks like Kappa Ebisen, and breakfast cereal Frugra. The new designs feature grayscale bags with text labels only, stripping away colorful branding, mascots and images. Calbee emphasized that product quality and contents remain unchanged. "This measure is intended to help maintain a stable supply of products," the company said in a statement, describing the step as a flexible response to supply instability in raw materials amid geopolitical risks.

The shortages trace to naphtha, a petroleum byproduct essential for ink production. The Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for about one-fifth of global oil shipments, has been effectively closed since late February due to the war, which has driven up naphtha prices and strained supplies in Asia. Japan imports more than 90 percent of its crude oil,...