Holliday also observed that "the strength of the U.S. dollar -- at its highest point in 15 years -- presents huge competitive challenges for U.S. exporters, many of whom are DuPont customers."

DuPont has taken a number of significant actions to offset the effects of the slowing economy and position its businesses to deliver sustainable earnings growth. In April the company announced a restructuring plan to reduce its global work force by 4 percent that will begin to yield cost reductions in the second half of 2001. In addition, DuPont will hold capital expenditures for 2001 to $1.6 billion, down from previous estimates of nearly $2 billion.

"Recent movements in long-leading economic indicators and in raw material prices offer hope that an end to the spreading global downturn is in sight," said Holliday. "Despite that, we continue to take actions necessary to emerge from these difficult times as a much stronger company."

During the quarter, the company broadly communicated its view of changing macro economic trends which, combined with historically high costs of key raw materials, were affecting financial performance. DuPont second quarter performance reflects these external trends, a number of which worsened as the quarter progressed. DuPont will report its second quarter earnings on July 25 and will host a live Webcast of its conference call with securities analysts at 11:00am EDT on www.dupont.com.

DuPont is a science company, delivering science-based solutions that make a difference in people's lives in food and nutrition; health care; apparel; home and construction; electronics; and transportation. Founded in 1802, the company operates in 70 countries and has 93,000 employees.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements.

Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by DuPont, particularly its latest annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to changes in the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions, including inflation, interest and foreign currency exchange rates, of countries in which the company does business; competitive pressures; successful integration of structural changes, including restructuring plans, acquisitions, divestitures and alliances; cost of raw materials, research and development of new products, including regulatory approval and market acceptance; and seasonality of sales of agricultural products.