Global oil prices rose further with Brent crude climbing near $110 a barrel, as a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz continues with the US and Iran both rejecting the other’s ceasefire proposal. Meanwhile, Japanese snack giant Calbee has decided to temporarily switch to black and white packaging for some of its products including crisps and prawn crackers due to supply instability in printing ink, made using petrochemical materials.
So Calbee’s chips are going monochrome because of Iran? Never thought my prawn crackers would be collateral damage in a Strait of Hormuz standoff.
Brent crude near $110 and now my favorite snack bags lose color. Wonder if they’ll go full 1950s minimalist or just look like newspaper.
Smart move by Calbee to switch to B&W packaging—better than halting production. But will they pass the ink savings to us or just pocket it?
The strategic calculus seems to be shifting almost daily now. (e69895)
Oil prices skyrocketing because US and Iran can’t agree on a ceasefire, and somehow Japanese crisps are the first casualty. What’s next, no soy sauce?
The humanitarian aid pipeline is chronically underfunded for the scale of need. (e1e1f6)
The arms trade keeps fuelling conflicts like this across the globe. (67e235)
When does the cycle of retaliation ever actually stop? (ea9bf8)
Neighbouring countries are bracing for spillover and it’s already happening. (58ec99)
The fog of war makes it impossible to verify anything coming out of the region. (786f2d)