Colour crunch: Japan’s Calbee chip bags go monochrome as Iran war bites

Japanese snack maker Calbee is changing its packaging to black-and-white due to supply chain issues caused by the Middle East war. (Calbee via CNN Newsource)

If you’re shopping for your favourite Calbee chips in Japan and see that familiar bag in black and white – it’s not a printing mistake.

The Japanese snack maker said on Tuesday it will temporarily change the packaging to grayscale and ditch its typically bright and eye-catching colours in stores nationwide because of supply chain disruptions from the Iran war.

The move comes in response to “supply instability affecting certain raw materials amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” the company said in a statement.

“This measure is intended to help maintain a stable supply of products.”

The black-and-white change will apply to 14 products. The new packaging will roll out on May 25 and won’t affect product quality, Calbee said.

The company didn’t specify exactly which shortages had prompted the change. But a spokesperson from the Japanese government said it had “received no reports of immediate supply issues regarding printing ink or naphtha, and we recognize that the necessary volume for Japan as a whole is being secured.”

Naphtha is a petroleum byproduct sometimes used in parts of the ink manufacturing process.

The spokesperson added that the government plans to meet with Calbee to discuss the situation and resolve any supply imbalances.

Companies around the world have been scrambling to find solutions to supply disruptions since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February, prompting the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway is a major shipping route and source of Middle Eastern oil to the rest of the world.

Already, we’ve seen these disruptions play out in different sectors: fertilizer shortages hurting farmers across Asia, and Indian rice producers unable to export their grain to Middle East markets. There are also delays in consumer deliveries around the world since Middle Eastern airlines account for a major share of global air cargo capacity.

Images released by Calbee show the new bags in varying shades of gray. The usual imagery of a hat-wearing mascot amid a sea of potato chips is gone, leaving just colourless wrapper and text labels.

The stripped-down packaging might mean shoppers need to rely more on the words on the packets, rather than the colours, when quickly grabbing their favourite flavours from supermarket shelves.

Usually, regular Calbee consumers would know that the red bag is for lightly salted potato chips, while the yellow packets with green labels are for seaweed flavour fans.