Tokyo, Sept 12 - Japan's Kanematsu Corp plans to triple planting of non-GMO soybean for food use on 50,000 acres at Prince Edward Island of Canada in a few years, in collaboration with a Canadian seed maker and local farmers.
Kanematsu has introduced on the island non-GMO seed types which grow well in areas at a higher latitude with shorter day hours than in the U.S. Midwest, which is traditionally the world's major producing area, meaning there is potential for the company to expand acreage in Canada.
Prince Edward Island, located on Canada's east coast, is the country's biggest potato producing province. There are hardly any soybeans grown there, but farmers are shifting away from potatoes due to lower demand and fears of frequent pesticide use contaminating the ground water, to more profitable alternatives such non-GMO soybeans.
The province's plantings is expected to total 15,000 acres next year, with an expected output of 15,000 tonnes all for shipment to Japan, according to Masahiko Ohkita, Kanematsu's soy manager.
Its importing costs are almost the same or lower than those of the U.S. Midwest origin, which require separate storage and transportation to keep away from GMO soy.
More than 90 percent of U.S. soy planting is now genetically modified, but tofu makers in Japan only use non-GMO soy for safety concerns.
Ohkita said increasing demand for health food in the rest of the world means the United States now accounts for less than half of global demand.
The remaining non-GMO soy is mainly from South America, but Japanese importers are less competitive in buying them than European and U.S. rivals due to extra freight costs, he said.
"So, we tapped into (the higher latitude area of) North America," he told an interview with Reuters on Friday.
Canada's non-GMO soy exports total around 750,000 tonnes a year, compared with that of U.S. origin of 2.4 million tonnes, he said.
Japanese tofu, soy sauce and other food processing makers use about 1 million tonnes a year of non-GMO soybeans from abroad in addition to locally grown soy, and Kanematsu provides about 10 percent of the non-GMO imports.
"We expect Prince Edward Island later to become a main supplier to Europe, and our second stage is to try it on the west coast," he said. "We have both land and seed."
In 2010, Kanematsu plans to provide a total of at least 10 non-GMO soy types and start test farming of these seeds in British Colombia in Canada and Washington state in the United States for shipment to Japan and the rest of Asia, Ohkita said.