Demand for potato chips has surged in Japan this week, with products on offer for 6 times their retail price online after Japanese snack company Calbee halted the sale of some of its most popular chip brands.

Calbee's pizza-flavored chips were going for about 1,250 yen ($US12) on Yahoo Japan's auction website on Friday. One bag usually sells for less than 200 yen. Photos of near-empty shelves at their local supermarkets were trending on Twitter.

Hot commoditiy: Calbee's chips. Credit:Bloomberg

The crunch came after Calbee warned on Monday that it will temporarily halt the sale of 15 types of potato chips due to a bad crop in Hokkaido, a key potato-producing region.

The northern island was hit by a record number of typhoons last year. Calbee, which has a market value of 507.9 billion yen and is 20 per cent-owned by PepsiCo, has a 73 per cent market share of potato chips.