The United States exported over 2 billion bushels of soy valued at more than US$30 billion in the 2013-2014 marketing year, according to the United Soybean Board (USB), quoting data from the US Department of Agriculture.

The year got off to a fast start, exceeding the predicted export numbers in early 2014 and finishing strong with record-size crops starting to come out of the fields, the board said.

It added that the 2013-2014 export total includes more than 1.6 billion bushels of whole soy, meal from 484 million bushels of US soy and oil from 161 million bushels. This total represents 62% of US soy production from last year.

 "US soybean farmers are committed to meeting global demand with a quality product," says Dwain Ford, the board's International Opportunities Target Area Coordinator and soy farmer from Kinmundy, Illinois. "These export numbers prove that US soy is a highly valued product in the global marketplace and that US soy farmers are doing a great job."

China has emerged as the United States' number one soy buyer during the 2013-2014 marketing year at 1.013 billion bushels, followed by Mexico (124 million bushels) and Indonesia (75 million bushels).

In terms of soymeal, Mexico has been its leading customer at 68 million bushels, followed by the Philippines (59 million bushels) and Canada (45 million bushels).

For soyoil, the top three importers from the US are Mexico (36 million bushels), China (35 million bushels) and the Dominican Republic (22 million bushels).