Japan's top maker of snacks has landed on a creative solution to conserve oil-derived input materials: it will switch its brightly coloured packaging to black and white.
In an eye-catching move, Tokyo-based Calbee on Tuesday said it would temporarily use only two ink colours on 14 of its products including its Potato Chips, Kappa Ebisen snacks and the Frugra breakfast cereal. Products with the revised packaging will hit store shelves from May 25, it said.
Calbee, which has the largest share of the domestic snacks market, said the initiative was aimed at maintaining stable shipments in response to the unstable supply affecting "certain raw materials" due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
"This measure is intended to help maintain a stable supply of products," it said in a statement this week.
How long the change might last remains unclear, according to Calbee, founded in 1949, and employing more than 5,000 group workers.
Asked about Calbee's decision, a government spokesperson said domestic naphtha refining continues with the use of stockpiled crude oil, while imports from outside the Middle East have tripled in May compared with levels from before the Iran war broke out in late February.
"We have not received any reports of immediate supply disruption for printing ink or naphtha and recognise that Japan as a whole has secured the quantities required," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kei Sato said.
"Relevant ministries are working together and making efforts to communicate closely with impacted companies to grasp the situation," he said, adding that a fact-finding hearing would take place on Tuesday.
But there's no mistake in the stark change on the chips packaging.
Calbee's lightly salted chips, known as "usu shio," originally came in a bright-orange bag with an image of yellow chips and a potato-man mascot wearing a hat. News of the 77-year-old company's move made headlines across Japan. It followed a brief panic in March among fans of a different crisps brand that temporarily stopped producing a popular snack citing difficulties in procuring the heavy oil needed to run its factory.
The new packaging just has monochrome lettering.
The company, which also makes shrimp chips, or "kappa ebisen," had just announced an ambitious growth strategy in March.
"Calbee will continue to respond flexibly and promptly to changes in its operating environment, including geopolitical risks, and remains committed to maintaining a stable supply of safe, high-quality products," it said. "We ask for your understanding."
Calbee turns chip packets monochrome as Iran conflict disrupts supplies