Dow cites energy costs, ups prices

Dow Chemical Co. will raise its prices by up to 20 percent on Sunday to offset the soaring cost of energy, and the CEO of the chemical giant lashed out at Washington yesterday for failing to develop a sound energy policy.

Dow supplies a broad swath of industries, including agriculture and health care, and any sizable price jump would likely affect almost all of them.

Dow said it had spent $8 billion on energy and hydrocarbon-based feedstock, or raw materials, in 2002 and that could climb fourfold to $32 billion this year. *

-Associated Press