Japan faces shortages of plastic goods due to Iran war disrupting naphtha supplies
Japan is running short of plastic bags, food trays, rubber gloves and packaging materials as the war in Iran disrupts supplies of a key raw material.
Naphtha, extracted from crude oil, is the raw material used to make plastics, synthetic fibres, rubber and printing inks. Japan imports the bulk of its crude oil from the Middle East. But the disruption to flows through the Strait of Hormuz has cut supplies hard.
The shortage has pushed production of the polyethene used in shopping and garbage bags down 62 per cent in March compared with the same month in 2025, according to data from the Japan Petrochemical Industry Association. It has pushed up costs for businesses and households and prompted some of the country's biggest retailers to strip colour from their packaging.
The shortage is affecting bakeries to convenience store chains, and making everyday items more expensive for people. A restaurant operator in Tokyo said rubber gloves and cleaning agents had become difficult to procure, pushing up operating costs.
"Nowadays, the prices of various things have gone up, and the costs related to cleaning and washing have increased. Items like rubber gloves that I need for work have also been difficult to buy. I have had to visit quite a few stores because of this," the operator told China's state broadcaster CCTV.
Another resident said the shortage had spread further than many had anticipated.
"I heard from my dentist that they don't even have gloves anymore. After hearing that, I realised just how serious the situation has really become," they told the broadcaster.
Some of Japan's largest consumer brands are responding by cutting colour from their packaging. Calbee, one of Japan's best-known snack manufacturers, began switching 14 of its staple products including potato chips and Kappa Ebisen shrimp snacks from colour printing to monochrome packaging on 1 June, labelling them "petroleum resource-saving packaging,” local media reported.
A company representative told The Asahi Shimbun the move was "a measure to ensure a stable supply of products."
FamilyMart, one of Japan's largest convenience store chains, plans to progressively shift to black-and-white printing on its private brand products from this summer, starting with sandwiches, onigiri rice ball wrapping and frozen beverage lids. Pan Pacific International Holdings, which operates the Don Quijote discount chain, has begun selling 26 private brand products in black-and-white packaging.
Food packaging using colour printing typically relies on gravure printing, which uses petroleum-derived, organic solvent-based inks.
The Japan Printing Ink Makers Association said concerns over ink supply have eased compared with earlier in the crisis, but prices continue to rise. Some retailers have begun using the disruption as a reason to reduce plastic use altogether.
Aeon's Topvalu private brand has cut plastic in one of its products by around 40 per cent by switching from a tray to a bag.
"The Middle East crisis has given us an opportunity to re-examine our approach to environmental issues," Mitsuko Tsuchiya, president of the company operating Topvalu, told the Asahi Shimbun. "We believe there is still room for further innovations."
Japan's government has sought to reassure the public, describing the situation as a supply "bottleneck" rather than a shortage. Daily sales of plastic garbage bags in Seoul also jumped nearly fivefold in March, prompting purchase restrictions, while Taiwan, one of the world's largest per capita users of plastic bags, has seen wholesale plastic prices surge by up to 40 per cent this year.
