CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-Kikkoman secures non-GM US soy for Japan use

(Corrects year in last paragraph to 2006, from 1996, and quantity of soy sauce produced to 940,000 kilolitres, not 940,000 kg litres. In paragraph 11, makes clear that Kikkoman is referring to GM soybeans being safe.)

By Risa Maeda

TOKYO, Aug 2O (Reuters) - Kikkoman Corp (2801.T) said on Wednesday it had secured U.S. non-genetically modified soybeans for soy sauce production in Japan for 2009, and would have little choice but to continue to rely on U.S. soybeans.

Many of Japan's soy product makers use non-gm soybeans in keeping with domestic consumer preferences but face daunting procurement difficulties.

Genetically modified soybeans now account for over 90 percent of planting in the United States, the world's biggest soybean exporter, as farmers seek to cut herbicide use and production costs.

A doubling in import costs of non-GM soybeans from a year earlier has encouraged a major Japanese tofu maker, Shinozakiya Inc (2926.T), to increase the usage of locally grown non-gm soybeans, albeit gradually. [ID:nT287912]

But Kikkoman Chairman Yuzaburo Mogi told Reuters in an interview that the company was unlikely to take that route.

"The costs are too high," he said in an interview. "Practically, I don't think that's feasible."

Kikkoman buys non-GM soybeans from the market, unlike a growing number of soy product makers here who buy them either directly from farmers or via trading firms which have contracts with farmers.

Non-GM soybean cargoes are sold at a premium to unseparated cargoes containing GM crops due to the extra costs involved in farming, shipment and storage.

GM SOY SAFETY

Japan is Kikkoman's largest market and although soy sauce makers are not compelled by law to specify the type of soybeans they are using, the company feels it must use only non-GM soybeans to please customers.

Kikkoman also uses non-GM soybeans to cater to consumers in Europe and Australia, with its only European factory in the Netherlands using non-GM soybeans from Brazil.

But Kikkoman also believes GM soybeans are safe and uses unseparated cargoes at its Singapore and U.S. factories.

Mogi said an approval by the Japanese government is not enough to persuade "sensitive" consumers here to accept GM soybeans despite growing difficulties to procure non-GM soybeans.

"I'm hoping some sort of an international consensus will be made soon," he said.