Why potato chip panic is gripping Japan and sending online prices soaring to $12

Japanese consumers are panic buying potato chips — hoping to stock up on their favorite flavors — after two of the nation’s largest producers announced they were halting sales of many varieties and temporarily suspending other types.

The reason? Last year, typhoons hit Hokkaido, a northern island of Japan which accounts for two-thirds of all the potatoes grown in the country. The storms hampered the potato crop, leading to a shortage and the cutbacks.

Calbee, the dominant producer of chips in Japan, will permanently stop shipment of 18 varieties of potato chips on April 15, according to Japan Today, meaning what is left on the shelves is it. The company will also temporarily suspend shipment of 15 other varieties, including the very popular “Big Bag Lightly Salted.”

Calbee said important American potatoes are “of insufficient quality and cannot cover the deficits,” according to Japan Today. Calbee had the two most popular snack items in Japan, according to a 2016 survey by TV Asahi.

Japan Today reports that Koikeya seven types of chips are done and another nine are being temporarily discontinued. Koikeya uses 100 percent Japanese potatoes.

Like the milk and bread aisles in American grocery stores during the run-up to a snowstorm, Japanese stores have empty shelves in the potato chip aisle. Japanese Twitter users have posted pictures of the empty shelves — as well as pictures of their new stockpiles of the chips.

Those lucky enough to buy the chips are putting them up for sale online, where the prices have reached six times their normal amount, according to Bloomberg. Bloomberg reports that Calbee’s pizza-flavored chips, which are the center of many of the photos showing shortages, are selling for 1,250 yen (or about $12) on auction websites. They normally cost less than 200 yen.

Potato harvests could begin again in May, but peak production in Hokkaido won’t happen until September.

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Why potato chip panic is gripping Japan and sending online prices soaring to $12."