Analysis
NAICS 311225 is the 2022 national industry for fats and oils refining and blending, part of 31122 (Starch and Vegetable Fats and Oils Manufacturing). Census lists 26 example activities under it in the official index.
County Business Patterns counts 109 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 10,175 people at an average annual payroll of $54,685 per employee (24th percentile of national industries). 28% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments grew 11% and employment rose 11%. The 2018 count used NAICS 2017, so part of a large move can come from codes being redefined rather than from businesses opening or closing.
Its index entries, the activities Census uses to assign businesses to this code, include butter substitutes made from purchased oils, canola (rapeseed) oil, cake and meal, made from purchased…, coconut oil made from purchased oils and cooking and baking oil sprays made from purchased oils, among 26 in all.
Its goods appear in 38 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 1517 (margarine; edible mixtures or preparations of animal…), 2106 (food preparations not elsewhere specified or included) and 0405 (butter and other fats and oils derived from milk; dairy…). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
Census lists 3 related activities that belong elsewhere, most often in 311221, 311224 and 31161. Businesses that do several things are classified by their primary activity, the one that generates the most value, so check those boundaries before settling on this code.
Official definition
This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in one or more of the following: (1) manufacturing shortening and margarine from purchased fats and oils; (2) refining and/or blending vegetable, oilseed, and tree nut oils from purchased oils; and (3) blending purchased animal fats with purchased vegetable fats.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Not this code if…
| The business mainly does | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Refining and/or blending corn oil made by wet corn milling | 311221 Wet Corn Milling and Starch Manufacturing |
| Refining and/or blending oilseed and tree nut oils in crushing mills | 311224 Soybean and Other Oilseed Processing |
| Rendering or refining animal fats and oils | 31161 Animal Slaughtering and Processing |
Index entries (26)
- Butter substitutes made from purchased oils
- Canola (rapeseed) oil, cake and meal, made from purchased oils
- Coconut oil made from purchased oils
- Cooking and baking oil sprays made from purchased oils
- Corn oil made from purchased oils
- Cottonseed oil made from purchased oils
- Flaxseed oil made from purchased oils
- Grease, inedible, animal and vegetable, refining and blending purchased oils
- Hydrogenating purchased oil
- Lecithin made from purchased oils
- Linseed oil made from purchased oils
- Margarine-butter blend made from purchased fats and oils
- Margarines (including imitation) made from purchased fats and oils
- Nondairy butter made from purchased oils
- Oil, olive, made from purchased oils
- Oil, vegetable stearin, made from purchased oils
- Olive oil made from purchased oils
- Palm-kernel oil made from purchased oils
- Peanut oil made from purchased oils
- Rapeseed (i.e., canola) oil made from purchased oils
- Safflower oil made from purchased oils
- Shortening made from purchased fats and oils
- Soybean cooking oil made from purchased oils
- Table oil made from purchased oils
- Tree nut oils (e.g., tung, walnut) made from purchased oils
- Vegetable oils made from purchased oils