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    Analysis

    June 29, 2025

    SMU Community Chat: CRU analysts Thais Terzian and Frank Nikolic on Wednesday

    Written by Michael Cowden

    CRU analysts Thais Terzian and Frank Nikolic will be the featured guests on the next SMU Community Chat on Wednesday, July 9, at 11 am ET.

    The live webinar is free for anyone to attend. A recording will be available to SMU subscribers. You can register here.

    What we’ll talk about

    Terzian is principal analyst, steel, at CRU. She’ll focus on metallics, semi-finished goods, and developments across steel markets in Americas. In other words, we’ll discuss not only the North American steel market (as we usually do) but also developments in South America – and how they impact markets here.

    Nikolic is vice president of base and battery metals for CRU. We’ll delve into what’s happening in those markets with a particular focus on zinc – a key raw material for anyone in the galvanized steel market.

    CRU is SMU’s parent company. And both Terzian and Nikolic bring a wealth of knowledge to the issues that matter to you. They’ll also be speaking at SMU Steel Summit. (The agenda for Summit is here. And you can register here.) So think of this as a preview of what they’ll discuss in Atlanta – and a good way to get the conversation going before Summit kicks off on Monday, Aug. 25.

    As always, we’ll keep it to about 45 minutes. You can drop in, learn something – and then get on with your day. We’ll take your questions too. So remember to think of some good ones for the Q&A on Wednesday, July 9, at 11 am ET!

    Editor’s note

    If you’d like to see past Community Chat webinars, you can find those here. I suggest checking out a good one we did on June 25 with Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). We discussed the impact of President Trump’s tariffs, immigration crackdown, and (proposed) tax cuts on construction.

    Michael Cowden

    Michael Cowden is editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He specializes in flat-rolled steel but has also reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube, and aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.

    Read more from Michael Cowden

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