Agenda 2019

Economic Analyst,  CRU
Zanna joined CRU Economics in September 2017 as an Economic Analyst and is responsible for macroeconomic coverage of Russia and Eastern European region.In addition to macroeconomic outlook, she also covers commodity-intensive end-use sectors such as construction, automotive and freight. Prior joining CRU, Zanna worked as a Forecast Analyst in the publishing industry and as a Research Consultant for the financial corporation.

Partner,  Sidley Austin
Arnoud Willems leads the EU trade and customs team and co-founded Sidley’s office in Brussels. Mr Willems represents the interests of companies in high-profile trade matters and advises clients on strategies for solving market access problems and resolving other disputes that affect their business. With respect to the latter, he is a leading advocate of companies challenging EU anti-dumping regulations, with an exceptional success rate in such cases before the national and European Courts. Since 2000, Mr Willems has been continuously involved in anti-dumping cases concerning ferroalloys like silicon, ferrosilicon, ferrochrome and silicon manganese.

Senior Vice President,  CRU
Jorn P. de Linde was appointed to his current position following the merger between Resource Strategies Inc. and CRU in April 1996. Based in the United States, Jorn specialises in ferroalloys-related research, with particular emphasis on silicon-based alloys and electric power, drawing on 30 years of experience. He is the principal author of CRU's Silicon Metal Market Outlook and Silicon Cost data service reports. Jorn is also a contributor to other CRU ferroalloy-related reports, including the Bulk Ferroalloys Monitor.

Jorn earned an MSc Degree in Mineral Economics from the Pennsylvania State University in the USA and holds an MBA (Siviløkonom) from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen, Norway.

Sourcing Lead, Allloys & Metals,  Liberty Speciality Steels
Nigel Clarke is responsible for buying alloys, metals and fluxes for Liberty Speciality Steels. Previously has worked in commercial and procurement roles at Tata Steel and its predecessor companies. Speciality Steel is located in the UK, with steelmaking assets that include two 160t EAFs and a VIM furnace.

Analyst,  CRU

James joined CRU in 2018 and is an Analyst within the Base Metals team. He is responsible for CRU’s molybdenum market analysis – including annual market outlooks, quarterly updates and monthly monitors – and contributes to CRU’s lithium market analysis, focussing on supply-side developments at the mine and refinery stage. James began his career at Argus as a market reporter focusing on ferroalloys. He graduated from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, with an MSci in Geology in 2016. During his time at university, James visited a host of mines and projects to examine exploration, mining and processing techniques, and completed an internship as a Minerals Processing Researcher at the University of Cape Town.

Market Analyst,  Nornickel, Metal Trade Overseas
Alina Racu is a Nickel Market Analyst at Metal Trade Overseas, the Switzerland-based subsidiary of the leading producer Nornickel. She had previously worked for almost seven years at the market research company Steel & Metals Market Research (SMR) in Austria as a Market Analyst with focus on stainless steel. Alina holds a Master degree in Business Consultancy from the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt in Austria.

CEO,  CRONIMET Envirotec

Filipe Manjolinho Costa earned his phD in Chemistry at the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. Shortly afterwards he finished his MBA at the University of Stellenbosch Business School in South Africa. As Head of R&D he helped build the first industrial plant for production of Carbon Black from end of life tires. For the last four years he has been responsible for Cronimet Envirotec and is focused on developing a sustainable business model for recycling valuable resources.

President,  Ni-Met Metals Inc
Anil Shah, a Chemical engineer by education & a metal trader at heart is President of Ni-Met Metals Inc., a company operational since 1990 in Toronto area in Ontario, Canada with an objective of sourcing vital industrial raw materials. As the name suggests, Ni-Met’s primary focus is on Nickel and Nickel bearing Stainless raw materials for sales in to India and now in to Europe and USA. Currently Ni-Met trades monthly about 6-700 mt nickel units in different forms including scrap.

Anil started his business career in Mumbai, India and migrated to Canada in 1990. An avid Golfer, Anil lives in Canada and is involved in many charitable organizations. Currently, he is Chair for Canada India Foundation and has recently finished his final term as a director on the Trillium Health Partner’s Foundations board.
Anil Shah, a Chemical engineer by education & a metal trader at heart is President of Ni-Met Metals Inc., a company operational since 1990 in Toronto area in Ontario, Canada with an objective of sourcing vital industrial raw materials. As the name suggests, Ni-Met’s primary focus is on Nickel and Nickel bearing Stainless raw materials for sales in to India and now in to Europe and USA. Currently Ni-Met trades monthly about 6-700 mt nickel units in different forms including scrap.
Anil started his business career in Mumbai, India and migrated to Canada in 1990. An avid Golfer, Anil lives in Canada and is involved in many charitable organizations. Currently, he is Chair for Canada India Foundation and has recently finished his final term as a director on the Trillium Health Partner’s Foundations board.

Head of Raw Material Purchasing,  Acciai Speciali Terni

Pablo Abasolo has led the raw material procurement Team in AST since early 2018. Pablo is reshaping the raw materials team towards a modern management approach and best market standards as part of wider reshaping process the company is undergoing following a Lean Transformation philosophy 
Pablo supports this transformation with 15 year experience in steelmaking raw materials gained by managing purchasing for mills in Europe, North and South America. 

Director & Coo,  Jindal Stainless Limited

As the Whole Time Director and Chief Operating Officer of Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited (JSHL), Mr J Sood is a technocrat with nearly three decades of experience in operational and managerial excellence. In his current role, he is responsible for leading the large scale operations of the company’s flagship plant in Hisar and driving sustainable growth. He is also the Director of Group Sourcing for the Jindal Stainless Group.

Mr J Sood began his career in 1990 by joining the Operations team of the state owned public sector steel major, Steel Authority of India Limited. Five years later, he joined Jindal Stainless, starting with the Research & Development Department. Aided by a keen metallurgical acumen and sound knowledge of the manufacturing ecosystem, Mr Sood rose to lead vital production units of JSHL, including Steel Melting Shop, Cold Rolling Division, and Specialty Products Division. With this versatile plant experience, and an accompanying ability to cater to dynamically changing needs of various market segments, Mr Sood was raised to head the entire Operations for JSHL in 2013. Given his immense contribution in making JSHL’s operations sustainable and profitable, Mr J Sood ascended to become the Whole Time Director and Chief Operating Officer of JSHL in 2016. In his current role, Mr Sood is also entrusted with the responsibility to optimize the sourcing function of the organization. In this capacity, he’s involved in a causing a radical shift from traditional to strategic buying approach, in order to create a strategically aligned procurement function.

Mr Sood’s academic records are at par with his illustrious professional journey. Mr J Sood is a gold medalist in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Nagpur. He also secured the first rank in M. Tech. in the Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering at IIT Bombay. In the stainless steel industry across the country, his voice is a force to be reckoned with.

Vice President,  RM Metals
Sam Desai is the Vice President of RM Metals. He graduated with a Doctorate degree from the University of Sciences in Philadelphia in 2000. After working 2 years in the health care field, he joined RM Metals on a full-time basis as a salesman in 2001. Over the years, he has helped expand RM Metals product line to include stainless steel flat rolled, scrap, bars and pipe/tubing. Currently, he devotes majority of his time to sales and marketing of stainless steel worldwide.

Stainless Steel Flat Products Monitor and Market Outlook Editor,  CRU
Panos Kotseras is CRU’s lead stainless steel market analyst and Editor of Stainless Steel Flat Products Market Outlook and Stainless Steel Flat Products Monitor. Panos started his career in commercial roles with copper and aluminium fabricators in the 2000s. He joined CRU in 2008 as a copper demand and wire & cable analyst. Panos moved to CRU’s NiSSSA team (Nickel, Stainless Steel and Special Alloys) in 2011, assuming the lead analyst role for cobalt and molybdenum. In 2015, Panos moved on to Rio Tinto Copper focusing on marketing intelligence analysis in the space of copper by-products, especially molybdenum. He rejoined CRU in 2018. Panos holds a first degree in Economics, an MSc in Finance and Commodities, and an MBA.

Stainless Steel Flat Products Monitor and Market Outlook Editor,  CRU
Panos Kotseras is CRU’s lead stainless steel market analyst and Editor of Stainless Steel Flat Products Market Outlook and Stainless Steel Flat Products Monitor. Panos started his career in commercial roles with copper and aluminium fabricators in the 2000s. He joined CRU in 2008 as a copper demand and wire & cable analyst. Panos moved to CRU’s NiSSSA team (Nickel, Stainless Steel and Special Alloys) in 2011, assuming the lead analyst role for cobalt and molybdenum. In 2015, Panos moved on to Rio Tinto Copper focusing on marketing intelligence analysis in the space of copper by-products, especially molybdenum. He rejoined CRU in 2018. Panos holds a first degree in Economics, an MSc in Finance and Commodities, and an MBA.

Senior Vice President,  CRU
Jorn P. de Linde was appointed to his current position following the merger between Resource Strategies Inc. and CRU in April 1996. Based in the United States, Jorn specialises in ferroalloys-related research, with particular emphasis on silicon-based alloys and electric power, drawing on 30 years of experience. He is the principal author of CRU's Silicon Metal Market Outlook and Silicon Cost data service reports. Jorn is also a contributor to other CRU ferroalloy-related reports, including the Bulk Ferroalloys Monitor.

Jorn earned an MSc Degree in Mineral Economics from the Pennsylvania State University in the USA and holds an MBA (Siviløkonom) from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen, Norway.

Principal Consultant,  CRU
Aleksandar Popovic joined CRU Consulting in 2012 and currently heads CRU Consulting’s cross-commodity research and advisory work, addressing industry-wide questions and trends for producers, financiers, governments and supply chain actors.

Most recently, Aleks has led assignments in the following areas:
- Diversification strategy and portfolio analysis
- Product and market entry strategy
- Green growth and technology, and implications for mineral demand
- Implications of climate and carbon policy on competitiveness

Aleksandar was introduced to commodity markets at BP and OMV, where he worked on renewable energy joint ventures, feasibility studies in exploration and production, and debated on industry-specific issues with the European governmental affairs office. Aleksandar is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the University of Warwick and holds an MSc in Advanced Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London. 

Managing Director,  metalshub
Frank M. Jackel is the Co-founder and Managing Director of Metalshub – the digital marketplace for metals and ferroalloys. Metalshub enables companies to utilise the benefits of digitalisation by providing a digital platform for buying and selling metals. Prior to co-founding Metalshub Frank was the Head of Marketing and Sales for CMOC in London, the global Head of Sales for Ferroalloys for Anglo American. He also worked for The Boston Consulting Group mainly for clients in the Mining Industry. Frank holds a MSc and PhD in Metallurgy.