Complaints are mounting across a wide range of industries over shortages of naphtha-related materials, but the government insists the issue is not a lack of overall supply, describing it instead as a “bottleneck” in distribution and processing. So what exactly is happening behind the scenes?
The worsening situation in the Middle East is beginning to affect Japan’s automotive sector, with shortages of engine oil and other lubricants emerging alongside rising prices, creating mounting pressure across the industry.
Subaru announced on May 15th that it will postpone the launch of its self-developed EV, or electric vehicle, which had been scheduled for 2028, as the automaker shifts its strategy toward hybrid and gasoline-powered vehicles.
Free roll-type plastic bags once available to shoppers at supermarkets are being removed one after another as shortages of naphtha, a petroleum-derived raw material used in plastic production, spread across Japan amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
Japan’s corporate goods prices rose 4.9% in April from a year earlier, far exceeding market expectations as soaring crude oil prices linked to tensions in the Middle East pushed wholesale inflation to its highest level in nearly three years.
Kagome announced on May 14th that it will temporarily redesign several ketchup products by reducing printed packaging areas and adopting mostly transparent labels as worsening tensions in the Middle East continue to disrupt supplies of white ink and other petroleum-based packaging materials across Japan.
JR Hokkaido is moving ahead with discussions over a so-called "vertical separation" system for railway lines the company says it can no longer maintain on its own.
ENEOS Holdings announced that a tanker operated by one of its group companies has successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.