Kikkoman Corp 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, to increase the usage of locally grown non-gm soybeans, albeit gradually.