| Claim | Evidence label |
|---|---|
| In 1904 a German bromine cartel pressured Herbert Dow to stop exporting bromine. | Supported by multiple historical accounts; Mackinac/FEE name Bromkonvention and Hermann Jacobsohn as the envoy. |
| The cartel fixed world bromine prices around 49 cents/lb while Dow sold in the U.S. for 36 cents/lb. | Supported in secondary historical accounts; Dow corporate/ACS confirm Dow’s bromine process and European chemical cartel context. |
| The cartel dumped bromine in the U.S. at 15 cents/lb to bankrupt Dow. | Supported by Mackinac/FEE/Wikipedia/ICIS source trail. |
| Dow responded by buying the cartel’s cheap bromine in America and reselling it in Europe/Germany. | Supported by Mackinac/FEE/Wikipedia/ICIS source trail; a classic arbitrage response to predatory pricing. |
| The cartel later cut U.S. prices to 12 cents and 10.5 cents/lb. | Supported in ICIS/search trail; useful detail but treated as secondary-source specificity. |
| This episode is “the reason Dow Chemical exists.” | Partly rhetorical. Dow Chemical was founded earlier, in 1897, but the episode helped strengthen the company and its competitive legend. |