More than 11 weeks into the US-Israeli war against Iran, economic disruptions are reverberating across Asia's industrial supply chains as shortages of petrochemical products, including naphtha, deepen in the region.
Before the war, "almost 100 percent of the Middle East's naphtha exports land in Asia", said Darryl Xu, Singapore-based principal analyst for base chemicals and feedstocks at ICIS Analytics.
Middle Eastern supplies make up almost 65 percent of Asia's naphtha imports, but disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have effectively cut off most shipments, with alternative sources unable to fully bridge the gap, Xu said.
A key petroleum derivative, naphtha is widely used to produce solvents and resin for printing ink. Supply shortages could affect sectors ranging from packaging and consumer goods to medical supplies and infrastructure materials.
Japanese snack maker Calbee said last week that it would switch some potato chip products to minimalist black-and-white packaging marked "packaging for conserving petroleum materials".
