It helped establish sodium hydroxide as an important commodity chemical.
Ethylene is the world's most valuable commodity chemical with an estimated value of $160 billion/year.
They don't take the tremendous swings that commodity chemicals do.
In commodity chemicals, prices have been down, but they are beginning to bottom out.
Moreover, most of Dow's commodity chemicals are sold in Europe, where the down cycle should be less severe.
After all, the last few years have been a time of breathtaking profits for almost every commodity chemicals company.
When making a commodity chemical, the less steps it takes, the better.
Both it and a chemical derivative (calcium hydroxide) are important commodity chemicals.
There are indications that cartel thinking might have persisted, at least in commodity chemicals, up to the present.
Biomass also has the potential to be converted to multiple commodity chemicals.