diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala
index 7d71195..da2c599 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvParser.scala
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class CsvParser {
   private var ignoreLeadingWhiteSpace: Boolean = false
   private var ignoreTrailingWhiteSpace: Boolean = false
   private var parserLib: String = ParserLibs.DEFAULT
+  private var nullValues: Seq[String] = Seq("")
 
 
   def withUseHeader(flag: Boolean): CsvParser = {
@@ -81,6 +82,11 @@ class CsvParser {
     this
   }
 
+  def withNullValues(nullValues: Seq[String]): CsvParser = {
+    this.nullValues = nullValues
+    this
+  }
+
   /** Returns a Schema RDD for the given CSV path. */
   @throws[RuntimeException]
   def csvFile(sqlContext: SQLContext, path: String): DataFrame = {
@@ -94,7 +100,8 @@ class CsvParser {
       parserLib,
       ignoreLeadingWhiteSpace,
       ignoreTrailingWhiteSpace,
-      schema)(sqlContext)
+      schema,
+      nullValues.toSet)(sqlContext)
     sqlContext.baseRelationToDataFrame(relation)
   }
 
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala
index 2c9f30a..84242f6 100755
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvRelation.scala
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
     parserLib: String,
     ignoreLeadingWhiteSpace: Boolean,
     ignoreTrailingWhiteSpace: Boolean,
-    userSchema: StructType = null)(@transient val sqlContext: SQLContext)
+    userSchema: StructType = null,
+    nullValues: Set[String] = Set(""))(@transient val sqlContext: SQLContext)
   extends BaseRelation with TableScan with InsertableRelation {
 
   private val logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CsvRelation.getClass)
@@ -153,7 +154,8 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
             try {
               index = 0
               while (index < schemaFields.length) {
-                rowArray(index) = TypeCast.castTo(tokens(index), schemaFields(index).dataType)
+                val token = if (nullValues.contains(tokens(index))) "" else tokens(index)
+                rowArray(index) = TypeCast.castTo(token, schemaFields(index).dataType)
                 index = index + 1
               }
               Some(Row.fromSeq(rowArray))
@@ -195,7 +197,8 @@ case class CsvRelation protected[spark] (
             throw new RuntimeException(s"Malformed line in FAILFAST mode: $line")
           } else {
             while (index < schemaFields.length) {
-              rowArray(index) = TypeCast.castTo(tokens.get(index), schemaFields(index).dataType)
+              val token = if (nullValues.contains(tokens.get(index))) "" else tokens.get(index)
+              rowArray(index) = TypeCast.castTo(token, schemaFields(index).dataType)
               index = index + 1
             }
             Some(Row.fromSeq(rowArray))
diff --git a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala
index 62c7b17..b881e5d 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/util/TypeCast.scala
@@ -33,21 +33,25 @@ object TypeCast {
    * @param castType SparkSQL type
    */
   private[csv] def castTo(datum: String, castType: DataType): Any = {
-    castType match {
-      case _: ByteType => datum.toByte
-      case _: ShortType => datum.toShort
-      case _: IntegerType => datum.toInt
-      case _: LongType => datum.toLong
-      case _: FloatType => datum.toFloat
-      case _: DoubleType => datum.toDouble
-      case _: BooleanType => datum.toBoolean
-      case _: DecimalType => new BigDecimal(datum.replaceAll(",", ""))
-      // TODO(hossein): would be good to support other common timestamp formats
-      case _: TimestampType => Timestamp.valueOf(datum)
-      // TODO(hossein): would be good to support other common date formats
-      case _: DateType => Date.valueOf(datum)
-      case _: StringType => datum
-      case _ => throw new RuntimeException(s"Unsupported type: ${castType.typeName}")
+    if (datum.isEmpty && castType != StringType) {
+      null
+    } else {
+      castType match {
+        case _: ByteType => datum.toByte
+        case _: ShortType => datum.toShort
+        case _: IntegerType => datum.toInt
+        case _: LongType => datum.toLong
+        case _: FloatType => datum.toFloat
+        case _: DoubleType => datum.toDouble
+        case _: BooleanType => datum.toBoolean
+        case _: DecimalType => new BigDecimal(datum.replaceAll(",", ""))
+        // TODO(hossein): would be good to support other common timestamp formats
+        case _: TimestampType => Timestamp.valueOf(datum)
+        // TODO(hossein): would be good to support other common date formats
+        case _: DateType => Date.valueOf(datum)
+        case _: StringType => datum
+        case _ => throw new RuntimeException(s"Unsupported type: ${castType.typeName}")
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/resources/missing-values.csv b/src/test/resources/missing-values.csv
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71c953b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/missing-values.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+year,make,model,comment,blank
+"2012","Tesla","S","No comment",
+1997,Ford,E350,"Go get one now they are going fast",
+2015,Chevy,Volt
+NA,NULL,"T","Comment"
diff --git a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvFastSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvFastSuite.scala
index e2bab82..3b6f440 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvFastSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/com/databricks/spark/csv/CsvFastSuite.scala
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ class CsvFastSuite extends FunSuite {
   val carsAltFile = "src/test/resources/cars-alternative.csv"
   val emptyFile = "src/test/resources/empty.csv"
   val escapeFile = "src/test/resources/escape.csv"
+  val carsWithNAs = "src/test/resources/missing-values.csv"
   val tempEmptyDir = "target/test/empty2/"
 
   val numCars = 3
@@ -93,6 +94,25 @@ class CsvFastSuite extends FunSuite {
     assert(results.size === numCars - 1)
   }
 
+  test("DSL test for handling NULL values") {
+    val results = new CsvParser()
+      .withUseHeader(true)
+      .withParserLib("univocity")
+      .withNullValues(Seq("NULL", "NA"))
+      .csvFile(TestSQLContext, carsWithNAs)
+      .collect()
+
+    assert(results.size === numCars + 1)
+
+    val results2 = new CsvParser()
+      .withUseHeader(true)
+      .withNullValues(Seq("NULL", "NA", "NaN"))
+      .csvFile(TestSQLContext, carsWithNAs)
+      .collect()
+
+    assert(results2.size === numCars + 1)
+  }
+
   test("DSL test for FAILFAST parsing mode") {
     val parser = new CsvParser()
       .withParseMode("FAILFAST")