Former Japan trading house head warns of naphtha supply crunch

Japan is likely to face a shortage of naphtha-derived chemical products as early as the end of June, the former head of a major trading house said, in comments that contrast with the government’s view that supplies will last into next year.

Fumiya Kokubu, a visiting fellow at The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, said Monday it would be “impossible” to procure alternatives for the 15 million kiloliters of naphtha a year that the country sourced from the Middle East before the war in the region began nearly three months ago.