Net sales for the three months to end-June were down 24 per cent from a year earlier at $8.35 billion (£6.43 billion/€7.1 billion).

While the cost of sales was also down significantly at $7.6 billion (£5.85 billion/€6.46 billion), the top-line decline was enough to push the company into the red, with pre-tax losses from continuing operations totalling $183 million (£141 million/€155.5 million) and the net loss for the quarter reaching $217 million (£167 million/€184.5 million).

Chairman Jim Fitterling said Dow was now expecting a "gradual and uneven recovery".

He announced an upsizing of the company’s 2020 operating expense reduction target from $350 million (£270 million/€297.5 million) to $500 million (£385 million/€425 million).

Fitterling said Dow would also initiate a restructuring programme including a 6 per cent cut in the 36,500 global workforce.

"While these are difficult decisions, they are necessary to maintain competitiveness while the economic recovery gains traction," Fitterling said.

Dow has been a member of The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme since 2010.

Its exclusive category is chemicals, raw materials and compounds used across selected industries.

Its involvement in the actual Olympic Games has included field-of-play technologies in sports ranging from hockey to ice skating, venue construction and energy efficiency.

The company has been a focus of corporate activity in recent times, having merged with rivals DuPont in 2017, prior to being spun out again as a separate chemicals and plastics group.