Why are fuel and petrochemical prices outpacing crude – and how long will it last?

This summer, David Chen, a Chinese national living in Japan, got an unexpected lesson in global industrial supply chains – delivered through a bag of potato chips.When popular Japanese snack brand Calbee replaced its signature colourful packaging with monochrome designs, Chen initially assumed it was a marketing gimmick. “Then news reports explained the switch stemmed from a naphtha supply crunch. I even looked up the word,” Chen said.naphtha, a flammable liquid processed from crude oil, might not be a household name, yet it serves as a foundational input in polyester fibres, packaging and industrial solvents. The squeeze has prompted Japanese media to coin a new term: “naphtha bankruptcies”, reflecting mounting anxiety among some companies over securing vital oil-derived inputs.