Japanese businesses from transport to hot spring inns are suffering soaring fuel prices and shortages as the Gulf energy crisis exposes vulnerabilities in the small companies at the heart of Japan’s economy.
A surge in oil prices as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran and Tehran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, an international shipping chokepoint, has strained supplies of refined petroleum products. Japan sources more than 90 per cent of its crude from the Middle East.
Thousands of businesses are grappling with a commodity price shock that is threatening factory closures, raising prices for consumers and halting wage rises that help drive consumption growth.
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