A shortage of chips hits Japan

In talking chips, we are not talking about microchips but the snack food in the form of a crisp, flat bite-sized unit served as an appetizer or hors d'oeuvre. 

McDonald's has said it has run out of chips because it is experiencing delays in shipments of the potatoes used to make its world-famous French fries.

As a consequence of this shortage, the global company will only sell small portions of its French fries in Japan from Friday until 30 December.

"McDonald's Japan will temporarily limit sales of Medium- and Large-sized French Fries as a proactive measure to ensure customers can continue to enjoy McDonald's French Fries. 

"Customers will still be able to order Small-sized French Fries at all of our restaurants. To date, there have been no breaks in supply," McDonald’s said. 

McDonald's said it usually imports the potatoes it uses from a port near Vancouver in Canada.

However, ships that would be transporting the chips have been delayed by flood damage and the impact of Covid-19 on the global supply chain.

So, the company will have to use alternative measures, including flying supplies to Japan. 

This is not the first time McDonald's in Japan has run out of chips. 

In 2014, a drawn-out industrial dispute between 20,000 dockworkers, terminal operators and shipping lines at 29 ports on the west coast of the US.

This ultimately caused a shortage of French fries in Japan, thereby disrupting a lot of dates and happy meals served to salty perfection in sit-down restaurants, take-outs and many drive-throughs. 

Due to this recent shortage of chips, McDonald's Japan has taken the emergency step of only selling small portions of French fries while it finds the best way of getting bigger portions back onto Japanese plates. 

Source: BBC