United States soybean exporters are boosting sales to China's edible oil and feed market as many Chinese companies have turned to cheaper US soybeans in the past three months while avoiding potential shipping delays from South America.

China had bought 26 million metric tons of soybeans from the US as of Tuesday for the 2013-14 market year (September 2013 to August 2014).

The orders, mainly from September through December, were about 4.5 million tons higher than China's soybean imports from the US for the entire 2012-13 market year, the US Soybean Export Council said Tuesday.