European steel market: continue to cut. The benchmark price index for steel in the region of 104.8 fell by 1.4% on a week-on-week basis (down from up to down), down 1.4% month-on-month (expanded), up 1% month-on-month (same as before) and up 17.5% year-on-year.

Flat material: market prices fell slightly. In the European Union, the ex-factory price of hot-rolled coils was US$650/ton, which was basically the same as that at the end of last month. The cold rolled coil is priced at US$740/ton ex-works, down US$5-8/ton from the end of last month. As of October 12, the EU's hot rolled coil import price of 600 US dollars / ton (CFR), basically the same as last month. The import price of cold rolled coils is US$705/tonne (CFR), which is US$5/ton lower than before. In the CIS, the price of hot and cold rolled coils continued to fall by $5-10/ton. Some market participants said that demand has dropped significantly, and the coils on the import market seem to be too saturated. In addition, the recent attempts by steel mills to raise prices have failed, which has raised concerns about the local market conditions in the region. Currently, many coils are priced at $560-570/ton cfr, depending on the origin. According to some traders, the intentional price of Russian steel mill HRC is 530-540 US dollars / ton fob, and the disk is 520-525 US dollars / ton fob. Some market participants said that Turkey is importing HRC, and some of the transaction price is about 530 US dollars / ton cfr. At the same time, the CRC market is slightly better, but prices are also falling. At present, Ukrainian resources are quoted at $600/ton cfr for Turkey, while Russian steel mills refuse to accept traders' $580/ton fob counter-offer. However, some people expect that market activity may pick up in the middle of the year. However, some traders said that it is not known whether the actual demand will rebound with the supply of steel mills in November.

In terms of long products: market prices continue to decline. In the European Union, the ex-factory price of rebar is US$650/ton, and the import price of rebar is US$580/tonne (CFR), which is roughly the same as the end of last month. In Turkey, a steel company Kardemir said that the rebar sales target for the fourth quarter will be 13% lower than the third quarter, but the billet and billet sales target will increase by 4%. Rebar and billet sales targets were 96,650 tons and 287,280 tons, respectively. The sales target for profiles in the fourth quarter fell 1% to 103,300 tons from the third quarter, and the wire rod sales target fell 9% to 94,500 tons. However, the pig iron sales target is 12,880 tons, and the third quarter is only 920 tons. According to industry insiders, there is growing concern about the lack of demand in the Turkish domestic rebar market. If the situation does not improve, some steel mills may soon need to stop production. In the CIS, billet prices began to fall after volume trading in the middle of the month. At present, the export price of CIS billet is about 461 US dollars / ton fob, down 15 US dollars / ton. Some traders say that billet offers from non-traditional suppliers are even lower.

In terms of trade relations. The Turkish government officially stated to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it plans to implement steel import quotas from October 17 to protect the domestic steel industry. Among them, the flat steel import quota is 3.1 million tons, less than half of Turkey's 8.4 million tons of imports in 2017. The quota for long products is 558,534 tons, while the import volume for 2017 is 1.3 million tons. The quota for pipes is 273,901 tons, the stainless steel is 139,934 tons, and the railway steel is 27,044 tons, which is less than half of the 2017 imports. It is reported that the steel import quota measures implemented by Turkey have no impact on the country's traditional imports. This is because these protective measures do not apply to imported steel products that need to be processed and then re-exported, and the quotas currently used are sufficient.

Brief Summary: According to the operational situation combined with the fundamental situation, the recent European steel market may continue to move downwards.