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.