Japanese snacks go black-and-white: Why Iran war is driving up ink prices
Key takeaways
- Tokyo-based Calbee says it would temporarily use only black and white colours on 14 of its products due to a lack of supplies needed for printing ink.
- Tokyo-based Calbee, one of the most popular brands in the snack market, has said it will – at least temporarily – switch to using black and white on the packaging of 14 of its products, including its Calbee Potato Chips.
- Calbee is just one of many Japanese companies attempting to minimise the fallout from the faraway war in Iran, which has triggered a global supply shock.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Tokyo-based Calbee says it would temporarily use only black and white colours on 14 of its products due to a lack of supplies needed for printing ink.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Calbee signage at the company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan May 12, 2026 [Issei Kato/Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 14 May 202614 May 2026The US-Israeli war on Iran is draining the colour from Japan’s supermarket shelves, with the biggest crisp makers swapping once-vibrant packaging for monochrome as a result of a shortage of ink.
Tokyo-based Calbee, one of the most popular brands in the snack market, has said it will – at least temporarily – switch to using black and white on the packaging of 14 of its products, including its Calbee Potato Chips.