Dow Wire & Cable Broadens Solutions Portfolio Following Joint Venture Dissolution

Houston, TX - July 05, 2005

Dow Wire & Cable, a global market-facing business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, today announced that its portfolio of solutions for the global wire and cable industry has expanded following the dissolution of the DuPont Dow Elastomers (DDE) joint venture on June 30, 2005. Three former Dow products from the joint venture - ENGAGE™ Polyolefin Elastomers, NORDEL™ Ethylene Propylene Rubber, and TYRIN™ Chlorinated Polyethylene - are being re-integrated into Dow. For the wire and cable industry, these products are now available exclusively from Dow Wire & Cable, in addition to its current portfolio of materials and services for power, telecommunications, and specialty wire and cable applications.

"The re-integration of product lines from the former joint venture enables Dow Wire & Cable to move forward more aggressively on its mission to migrate from a fully-formulated polyethylene supplier to a technology-driven solutions provider," said Tim Laughlin, global business director for Dow Wire & Cable. "As a market-facing business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, Dow Wire & Cable is excited to put its global resources to work to bring even more innovative solutions to our customers."

The three products being integrated into Dow's portfolio can be used in a variety of wire and cable applications. ENGAGE Polyolefin Elastomers are polyethylene-based with a high degree of comonomer, suitable for blending into base resins for enhanced additive loading capacity. NORDEL Ethylene Propylene Rubbers are primarily EPDM-type resins used to increase flexibility and heat performance in crosslinked cable applications. TYRIN Chlorinated Polyethylene works especially well in physically challenging environments that require abrasion and chemical resistance.

About Dow Wire & Cable
As a world-leading provider of technology-driven solutions for the wire and cable industry, Dow Wire & Cable brings almost 60 years of experience to power, telecommunications and specialty cable applications. Dow Wire & Cable, a market-facing business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and its subsidiaries, provides plastics-enhanced materials used as insulation, semi-conductive, flame retardant and jacketing materials, delivering a unique combination of mechanical strength, flexibility, electrical properties, aging stability and processability. In addition, Dow Wire & Cable creates value for global customers by supplying material and compounding solutions that are backed by solid research, product development, engineering and application validation expertise. For more information, please visit www.dowwireandcable.com.

About The Dow Chemical Company
Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 43,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.

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