Maintaining cottonseed product markets at prices that will allow oil mills to compete successfully for raw materials is a major challenge for the industry. Recent trends toward offshore production of oils and oilseeds have created difficult problems for U.S. crushers. Foreign trade barriers and export incentives have been structured to capture traditional U.S. export customers, resulting in declining U.S. exports and record domestic vegetable oil inventories. Low oil prices relative to meal, increasing substitutability of oils in food products and changing public perceptions about the role of fats in the diet require new approaches and marketing techniques. The ways in which future government oilseed production and marketing policies are structured could have major implications for cottonseed crushers.