Along with a 23 percent drop in sales and volumes during the fourth quarter, the largest US chemicals maker, Dow Chemical Co, reported a quarterly loss in excess of $1.55 billion - a year earlier, it had posted a $472 million profit in the same quarter.

The bygone year has been one of the worst years on record for Dow - the company suffered from a sharp hold back in many up-and-coming areas. One such area was its performance plastics segment, comprising the Dow Automotive and Dow Building Solutions businesses, which also posted a $479 million fourth-quarter operating loss.

Dow is only one of the chemical companies to have received a blow from the deepening global recession. Even the chief high end markets - like the electronics, construction, and automotive businesses - have also been hit hard due to the weakened demand.

With the 23 percent fourth-quarter sales drop, the Midland-based chemical company's sales plummeted to $10.9 billion from the earlier-year's $14.2 billion.

During the last couple of years, Dow initiated a two-sided approach to overhaul its earnings report.

The first shot was at selling a 50 percent stake, for 90 billion, in its basic plastics business to Kuwaiti financiers, who backed out at the final stage. The second attempt was a nearly $15 billion acquisition bid for specialty chemical maker Rohm and Haas Co - a deal marred by the financial meltdown!