How Japan created its naphtha supply bottleneck
Assurances from Prime Minister Sanae Takachi’s administration that Japan has secured enough naphtha to last into next year has failed to fully prevent panic buying of naphtha-derived products, clogging the distribution chain and resulting in on-the-ground shortages for end users across a broad range of industries.Amid concerns about whether businesses can secure enough supplies, how much more they’ll cost if they do, and whether they can absorb the additional costs or be forced to pass them along to their customers, some argue that anti-hoarding laws should be enforced.“There is a law called the Anti-Hoarding and Price-Gouging Act. If we take appropriate measures in accordance with this law, it could have a significant impact on businesses across the entire supply chain,” Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) head Junya Ogawa told Takaichi during Thursday’s parliamentary budget committee.
