JAPANESE SNACK CRISIS COMES TO AN END

Shuji Ito, the president of popular Japanese potato chips brand Calbee announced during a press conference that production will fully resume by September.

The manufacturer has been affected by the typhoons hitting the potato-producing region of Hokkaido, which led to a potato chips shortage in Japan, a few weeks ago.
Consumers can expect popular products like the pizza-flavored potato chips and black pepper-flavored varieties to return to shelves across the country, according to the local press.
A record-breaking number of typhoons that hit Hokkaido last summer resulted in a major lack of the main ingredient – Hokkaido-produced potatoes.
They account for 70% of the ingredients used in making Calbee’s potato chips.
This shortage made the production of some Calbee products impossible, and the subsequent fall in the supply of potato chips also caused prices to soar.
At one time, a bag of chips was going for more than 1,250 yen (about USD12) online.
Calbee has looked into importing more US-produced potatoes to curb the shortage, but that endeavor has not been very fruitful.
However, having secured Kyushu-produced potatoes in mid-May this year, Calbee will fully replenish stocks around July.