UPDATE 1-EU steel market "stuck in slow motion" - Eurofer

* Industry group: Y/Y output growth seen positive in Q2 2010

* More pronounced rebound could take until 2011

* Apparent steel consumption fell almost 32 pct in Q3 (Adds details)

BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The European Union steel market remains subdued even after a likely return to growth in the overall EU economy during the third quarter, European steel industry body Eurofer said on Thursday.

It said weak activity in the steel sector, hit by the worst economic crisis since World War Two, had resulted in a slump in demand as consumption fell 45 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2009 and by almost 32 percent in the third quarter.

"While the economy probably reached a turning point, the EU steel market will remain stuck in slow motion for the time being," Eurofer Director General Gordon Moffat said in a report on the market outlook for 2009 to 2011.

The industry body said a recovery forecast for the coming quarters would be slow and surrounded by uncertainty as the prospects for the EU's steel-using sectors -- such as automotive and construction -- remained subdued.

Eurofer said a downward trend in orders at mills was bottoming as some customers returned cautiously to fill gaps in their stocks.

An inventory build-up after heavy destocking in 2009 would lead to a "technical" recovery in steel demand, Eurofer said.

"Global crude steel production increasing in anticipation of a recovery in steel demand which yet has to materialise remains a major risk for the EU supply-demand balance," Moffat said.

The report showed that, while year-on-year output growth should turn positive in the second quarter of 2010, it could take until 2011 for a more pronounced rebound in output to begin. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Bate Felix; Editing by Dale Hudson)