New York - US chemical concern Dow Chemical Company reported Thursday that its net income in the first quarter slipped to 941 million dollars, from 973 million dollars in the same 2007 period, despite a new record-high in quarterly sales.

The company noted that earnings were impacted by a 2.2 billion dollar increase in costs for raw materials and energy, saying the rise in the costs was the largest in the company's history.

Dow said sales reached 14.8 billion dollars, up 19 per cent from the 12.4 billion dollars in the first quarter of last year. Sales were up 2 per cent by volume, while prices were up 17 per cent year- on-year, the rise in prices.

"Dow delivered an exceptionally good quarter, in which broad-based pricing initiatives, growth in our Performance businesses, especially Dow AgroSciences, and our strong international presence counterbalanced ongoing weakness in the United States, and an unprecedented increase in purchased feedstock and energy costs," Dow chairman and CEO Andrew N. Liveris commented. (dpa)