Marketing Oilseeds and Oilseed Products

Excerpts from the report Summary: Production of U.S. fats and oils more than doubled during the past two decades, and the Nation became a net exporter instead of a net importer. The market also reflected the changes that affected other farm products. The industry underwent changes in organization and structure; processing methods and techniques; size, type, and number of mills processing the various oilseeds; the volume of different fats and oils produced and their disposition and utilization in domestic and foreign outlets, particularly following World War II. This country's change from a net importing to a net exporting country was emphatic. By the midsixties, U.S. production accounted for more than one-fourth of the world's total supply of fats and oils. Before World War II, it was about 5 percent of the total. In contrast to the increase in production, per capita consumption of fats and oils in the United States changed little, remaining at about 70 pounds during the past several decades. Important technological developments have occurred in the fats and oils industries during the past 20 years or so. The shift in the oilseed crushing industry from the hydraulic method of extracting to the more efficient screw-press, solvent, and prepress-solvent methods was one of the more significant developments. It was a major factor in the trend toward fewer but larger mills, and in the increase in oil yields per unit of raw material processed. The hydrogenation of fats and oils was also an important technological achievement, making possible a wider use of some oils.