China imported $13 billion worth of soybeans from the U.S. in 2012, making it the largest single commodity the U.S. exported to China in terms of value, according to U.S. Soybean Export Council China Director Zhang Xiaoping.

"China is the U.S.’ number one soybean buyer," Zhang said. "The soybean has played an important role in China-U.S. agricultural trade relations, accounting for more than 50 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports to China."

Without the Chinese market, both soybean production in the U.S. and its related industries would not have grown to its current scale of more than 31 million hectares of land producing 90 million metric tons of...