Excerpts from the report: Volume and total value of rapeseed and rapeseed oil marketed in the United States are small when compared to the total marketings of domestically produced oilseeds and vegetable oils. This is due to several factors: (1) small domestic production, (2) greater availability and lower prices for competing oils, (3) limited industrial uses, and (4) import duty and tax restrictions. Rapeseed is grown for food oil marketing in Europe and Asia but it is not processed for food in the United States. Rapeseed has three major uses as: (1) crushings of seed for oil and meal, (2) bird feeds, and (3) planting seed. Domestically-produced rapeseed contributes a minor part to the commercial market. Domestic oil mills that crush domestic and imported rapeseed supply 5 percent or less of the total rapeseed oil requirements. Factors that influence distribution and usage patterns of rapeseed oil in United States markets are: (1) rapeseed oils are limited by price-property criteria to specific end-uses; (2) manufacturers who take most of the oil require some further processing before use, such as blowing or vulcanization, and (3) production, processing, and usage of rapeseed oil involve only a few firms.

Reprinted from the Fats and Oils Situation, FOS-219, August 1963, by the Marketing Economics Division, Economic Research Service.