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Poor potato crop in Japan leads to surge in demand and prices for potato chips

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XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...japan-potato-chip-crisis-panic-buying-12-bags

Demand for potato chips has surged in Japan this week, with products on offer for 6 times their retail price online after Japanese snack company Calbee Inc. halted the sale of some of its most popular chip brands.

Calbee’s pizza-flavored chips were going for about 1,250 yen ($12) on Yahoo Japan Corp.’s auction website Friday. One bag usually sells for less than 200 yen. Photos of near-empty shelves at their local supermarkets were trending on Twitter.

The crunch came after Calbee warned on Monday that it will temporarily halt the sale of 15 types of potato chips due to a bad crop in Hokkaido, a key potato-producing region. The northern island was hit by a record number of typhoons last year. Calbee, which has a market value of 507.9 billion yen and is 20 percent-owned by PepsiCo Inc., has a 73 percent market share of potato chips.

Potato chips are a big deal in Japan, a country also known for its senbei rice crackers and Pocky sticks. Calbee’s potato-snack products were the most and second-most popular snacks in a TV Asahi poll of 10,000 people and 13 confectionery makers last year, and the subject of a primetime show that lasted more than two hours.

While the focus has been on potato chips following Calbee’s announcement, the shortage may spread to fast-food chains and restaurants that rely on spuds for their dishes in what appears to be shaping up to be the nation’s “Potato Crisis,” according to the Nikkei newspaper.

“We’re doing everything we can to resume sales again,” said Rie Makuuchi, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Calbee. She said the company will consider using more imported potatoes from the U.S. and ask potato farmers in the southern island of Kyushu to harvest their crop earlier than scheduled. She also cited regulatory hurdles, which limit the amount of imported potatoes that can be used in products, as partly responsible for the shortage.
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Smaller potato-chip rival Koike-ya Inc. has also halted the sale of 9 snack products. The company only uses domestic potatoes and therefore won’t rely on imports, according to spokesman Kazuya Obata. Both Koike-ya and Calbee said they aren’t sure when sales will resume.
Click to expand...
 
shira

shira

Member
Go to Korea
c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636.jpg
 
L

Linkura

Member
Sounds more like a supply issue as opposed to increased demand. Leave it to Bloomberg to fuck up basic economics terminology.
 
L

Linkura

Member
Izuna said:
I don't understand your conclusion haha

there's more demand because of the supply issue
Click to expand...

Um, no. The prices have gone up because of reduced supply. There isn't necessarily more demand for the product, but there is less supply, thus increasing prices.
 
T

tbm24

Member
Have no experience with Japanese chips but the variety I'm learning here sounds amazing. I had cheetos from a Korean market that were amazing.
 
I

Izuna

Banned
tbm24 said:
Have no experience with Japanese chips but the variety I'm learning here sounds amazing. I had cheetos from a Korean market that were amazing.
Click to expand...

My partner practically imports crisps from the UK.

Japanese ones are not very tasty.

edit: I wonder if they're also talking about osenbei (is that with potato?)
 
Lord Ghirahim

Lord Ghirahim

Member
Japanese potato chips are pretty shit, I do not understand why anyone would pay ¥1250 for any Calbee product. Just go to Lawson or wherever and get far superior import chips for ¥500. Or have those disappeared too?
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
So the japanese government has such an aversion to foreign goods that it passed laws limiting the quantity of imported potatoes they can use in their products ?

They would rather have shortages and lose money rather than import food ?
 
C

Cerium

Member
Mimosa97 said:
So the japanese government has such an avertion to foreign goods that it passed laws limiting the quantity of imported potatoes they can use in their products ?

They would rather have shortages and lose money rather than import food ?
Click to expand...

Japanese politics are completely held hostage to conservative rural farmers because the Americans who drafted their constitution wanted to make sure that the commies would never get elected.

It's a long story.
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
Cerium said:
Japanese politics are completely held hostage to conservative rural farmers because the Americans who drafted their constitution wanted to make sure that the commies would never get elected.

It's a long story.
Click to expand...

I really need to do some reading about post-WWII Japan. I'm really ignorant on the subject.
 
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