ITA 2026 Semi-Annual General Assembly Meeting

Monday, March 16th in San Diego, California

Join us for the 2026 ITA Semi-Annual General Assembly meeting on Monday, March 16th, in San Diego, California. We will begin with the annual ITA Members’ breakfast (7:45 – 8:45 am) followed by the business meeting. As a reminder, General Assembly meetings are for ITA member companies and invited guests.

Meeting Location:
Imagine Room, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, 207 Fifth Avenue, San Diego, CA.

2026 Annual Conference Flyer

Meeting Presentations:

Chinese Coal Tar and Pitch Market Update

Mr. Zhou Baogang, East River Asia Limited, Tianjin, China

Graduated from Tianjin Foreign Languages Institute and majored in International Trade. 1994 – 2002, worked in a famous international trading house named Nichimen Corporation in Tianjin, China and deeply engaged in international business, including machinery, auto parts, bearings, electric appliances and chemical products.
1992 – 2006, worked in JECT Corporation Beijing office, mainly working for all kinds of carbon business, including Needle Coke, Graphite Electrode, Green Petroleum Coke, Calcined Petroleum Coke, Metallurgical Coke, Foundry Coke, Coal Tar Pitch and recarb etc. Heavily provided raw materials to steel, aluminum and chemical industries with rich experience and technical knowledge.
Since 2007, worked in East River Asia Limited as consultant to provide professional services to the customers all over the word with Chinese carbon and chemical industries.

Overview of the Aluminium and Coal Tar Pitch Markets

Mr. Elijah Santos – Analyst, Carbon Products, CRU Group, London, United Kingdom

Elijah joined CRU in 2023 and is an Analyst in the Aluminium team, based in Sheffield. He was previously part of CRU’s automotive team and headed Exawatt’s automotive analysis, which he joined in 2021 before the company was acquired by CRU in 2023.At Exawatt he focused on EV adoption and technology forecasting, notably LFP batteries, silicon carbide power electronics, and axial flux motors. Post-acquisition, Elijah continued to use his background in engineering to develop material demand models for the automotive sector before moving to the Aluminium team in a full-time capacity in October 2024. Elijah now focuses on wider demand modelling for the luminium team, leveraging his automotive expertise to understand the broader market.Elijah holds a Mechanical Engineering MEng from Sheffield Hallam University, with his year in industry being at Nissan in the petrol engine project management division at the Nissan Technical Centre in Cranfield, UK. For his masters, Elijah led a team designing a fully electric race car for the Formula Student series, which he’d previously competed in across various roles during his time studying.

Update On Activities of the Pavement Coatings Technology Council (PCTC)

Mr. Greg Traczek, Rain Carbon, USA

Mr. Greg Traczek has been a member of the coal tar distillation industry since 1989, working for multiple companies in various roles in quality control, operations, logistics, raw material purchasing, and sales. He is currently Director of Raw Material Purchasing & Distillate Sales for Rain Carbon. Greg has a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, and an MBA from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL. Greg currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA with his wife, Stephanie, and their daughters.