Dow Chemical Says Wet Weather Hurt Agriculture, Paint Sales

Bloomberg reports that Dow Chemical Company said it’s facing “headwinds” in the second quarter including adverse weather that probably eroded sales of agriculture products and house paint. Sales at Dow AgroSciences, which makes pesticides and seeds, and at the coatings unit were hurt by unusually wet and cold weather in the U.S., Chief Financial Officer William H. Weideman said on a webcast presentation from the Goldman Sachs Basic Materials Conference in New York. Sales to carmakers have been hurt by a parts shortage stemming from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Asian demand for polyethylene plastic dipped for three weeks in the quarter in anticipation of lower prices. Total demand is strong in Latin America, Asia and northern and eastern Europe, according to Weideman. Dow, which got two-thirds of revenue last year from outside the U.S., plans to boost production of ethylene, a key plastics ingredient, by 20 percent within three years.