Ink shortage causes Japan firm to simplify ketchup packaging

TOKYO — Japanese food and beverage maker Kagome Co said Thursday it will begin selling some of its tomato ketchup products in simplified packaging due to a tightening supply of ink caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

The new packaging of Kagome Tomato Ketchup comes amid a shortage of raw materials used for white ink and will be transparent on the lower half, unlike the current design, which is fully covered with illustrations of tomatoes, with white background.

The company said on its website that finding a substitute for the white ink, which is the base color for printing the packages, is difficult "due to printing compatibility."

Products adopting the new packaging are the 500-gram, 300-gram and 180-gram tomato ketchup bottles. The company will begin introducing the redesigned packages sequentially from later this month.

The decision to simplify its packaging follows a similar move by Calbee Inc, which earlier this week announced plans to begin selling 14 of its potato chip products, including the Lightly Salted, Consomme Punch and Seaweed Salt flavors, in black-and-white packaging in response to a tighter supply of oil-derived naphtha.

Calbee also said Thursday it will raise prices on 25 snack products, including potato chips and its Jagarico potato snacks, sequentially from Sept. 1.

The company said the price increases will also apply to products with monochrome packaging, with potato chip prices expected to rise by 5 to 10 percent and Jagarico products 3 to 10 percent.

© KYODO