Oil Shortage Hits Japan’s Farm, Electricity, Gas, Aviation Businesses

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:38 JST, April 4, 2026

A widening range of industries are feeling the impact as crude oil imports have stalled due to Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Companies mainly in the oil-related sector are cutting production and raising prices one after another, while soaring fuel costs are also putting pressure on agriculture and fisheries businesses.

Going forward, price hikes for electricity, gas and airfares are also expected, spurring the government to consider a request for the public to use less oil.

Production cuts are spreading among companies that manufacture goods from crude oil.

Idemitsu Kosan Co. is reducing production of ethylene — a basic chemical for plastics and tires — at its plants in Chiba and Yamaguchi prefectures due to supply concerns over naphtha, or crude gasoline, refined from crude oil. The company accounts for 16% of Japan’s domestic ethylene production.

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. has also been reducing ethylene production at its facilities in Chiba and Osaka prefectures since March. The company has secured a plan to procure naphtha from the United States and Africa to replace Middle Eastern supplies. However, a corporate public relations official said: “We are procuring only the amount needed in the immediate term. We will continue our efforts to secure supplies.”

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. used to procure most of its methanol for domestic sales from a Saudi Arabian manufacturing facility that the company invests in. Produced from natural gas and other sources, methanol serves as a raw material for plastics and synthetic fibers.

However, supply was cut off due to the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, prompting the company to shift sourcing to countries such as Venezuela. Greater transportation distances mean higher costs.

Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. will raise the price of film used mainly for food packaging by ¥1,200 to ¥2,000 per 500 square meters, starting with goods delivered on or after April 21. Nippon Paint Co. raised the price of construction thinner by 75% for orders placed on or after March 19.

Hidefumi Ito, president of Sendai, a Yamanashi Prefecture company that makes and sells natto, said: “The film used for containers and other packaging is petroleum-based, so we use kerosene in the manufacturing process. If prices jump sharply, we’ll have to pass on the costs or the company will go under.”

In Yamagata Prefecture, which boasts the highest cherry production in the nation, farmers are in distress.

According to the Yamagata prefectural government, some farmers use heaters to warm cherry trees inside greenhouses to avoid damage from frost and low temperatures because cherries that flower in late April are vulnerable to cold.

“Fertilizer and supplies are going up in price, and to add insult to injury, fuel costs are rising too,” said a 73-year-old farmer in Nanyo in the prefecture, who uses about 60 heaters.

In late March, when he ran the heaters, 500 liters of kerosene were used in a single night, costing about ¥70,000, according to him.

Electricity and gas rates are expected to reflect the soaring prices of liquefied natural gas used in thermal power generation as early as June, with the effects phased in from this summer onwards.

In addition, government subsidies will end for April billing onwards, bringing price increases.

All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co. are considering raising their fuel surcharges — additional fees applied to international fares based on aviation fuel prices — and plan to implement the increase for tickets issued starting in June.