Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. said Thursday it has appointed Madeleine L. Champion as an independent director. Champion will replace Maher Abu-Ghazaleh, who resigned after 12 years. Abu-Ghazaleh’s brothers Mohammed and Amir still work as directors. Champion, an international management and trade consultant, worked as a managing director and senior vice president at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from 2004 to 2008. Del Monte, a seller of prepared and fresh fruits and vegetables, said Tuesday its first-quarter net profit fell 45 percent to $34.9 million, or 55 cents per share, from $63.6 million, or $1 per share, a year earlier. Del Monte shares dropped 36 cents, or 2.4 percent, to close at $14.52 on Thursday.

Crude inventories jumped last week by more than twice what was expected, while gasoline reserves dropped sharply even as demand for motor fuel remained below last year’s levels, according to government data released Wednesday. For the week ended April 24 crude inventories rose by 4.1 million barrels, or 1.1 percent, to 374.7 million barrels, which is 18 percent above year-ago levels, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report.

The oil major beats forecasts, but expect it to find extra cost savings this year as the industry slims down. With oil prices down 60.0% over the year, Big Oil is seeing a corresponding drop in profitability. Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday a 61.6% slide in first-quarter profits, to $3.5 billion, only a day after BPsaid its own quarterly profits had fallen by 64.0% over the year. But like its rivals, Shell is building up its defensiveness and cutting costs–it just remains to be seen by how much.

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India´s cement industry will see addition of 50 million tonnes (MT) of capacity in the current financial year, despite profitability expected to go down by 20 per cent in last fiscal.

According to the Cement Manufacturers’ Association (CMA), the industry, which is expected to grow at about 1.2 times of the country’s GDP growth this fiscal, is estimated to have sales growth of 8-9 per cent in 2008-09, but profit margins are likely to dropped by 20 per cent for the same year.

Venezuela announced plans Friday to slash salaries and spending at its state oil company in a bid to save cash for refinery upgrades and other projects as oil income falls.

Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said Petroleos de Venezuela SA will cut “excess” costs by $11 billion, about a tenth of last year’s estimated spending, freezing wages for its 75,000 employees and reducing salaries for all top officials, including himself, by 20 percent.

Despite all its recent talk about being down on the dollar, China hasn’t been building its gold reserves as quickly as it’s been amassing U.S. dollar. China has added 454 metric tons to its gold reserves since 2003 when it said reserves totaled 600 metric tons. Purchases were made off the exchange as private transaction.

Coal has seen better years. Arch Coal Chairman Steven Leer called 2008 a “transitional year” for the industry when the company reported last year’s earnings. The transition isn’t over and Arch management has been carefully keeping expectations low.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded the debt of Cemex SAB de CV after the Mexican cement producer initiated talks with banks about easing terms of its loans.

Commodity markets hit their highest levels for months on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve gave nascent investor confidence a fillip by unveiling plans to buy more government bonds and mortgage debt.