Jamshedpur, April 3 :    Jamshedpur, April 3:  Tata Steel has reported a modest 3 per cent increase in its saleable steel production at 3.1 million tonnes during the year ended March 31. Last year, the saleable steel output was 3.01 million tonnes. Hot metal production grew by 3 per cent to 3.63 million tonnes from 3.51 million tonnes in 1997-98. Crude metal production grew by 1 per cent from 3.23 million tonnes to 3.26 million tonnes. The company?s domestic sales have risen by 4.52 per cent to 2.32 million tonnes from 2.22 million tonnes. Exports have posted a negative growth of 1.45 per cent falling from 420,000 tonnes to 410,000 tonnes. Tata Steel managing director J.J. Irani told reporters here today that the collapse of the south-east Asian economy had hurt the company?s export performance. Moreover, the company was under severe pressure because of the threat from the US and Europe to launch anti-dumping proceedings against Indian steel companies including Tisco. ?We are now venturing into West Asia and some African countries to boost exports. But our main target is the domestic market which will hopefully pick up in the current financial year,? Irani said. The steel giant closed the year with a saleable steel inventory of 335,730 tonnes; the opening inventory was 273,692 tonnes. Irani said the net realisation during the first three quarters was very low. However, the company was able to realise better prices in the last quarter because of the import floor price on hot-rolled coils and sheets that the government imposed last October. Irani refused to give any financial details of the company?s performance. During the year, the company reduced its manpower by 5,500 to 59,252 through a voluntary retirement scheme. The VRS payout was Rs 180 crore. Tisco intends to cut its workforce further to less than 55,000 this year. The manpower reduction has helped the company raise the productivity of crude steel to 153 tonnes per man per year and 133 tonnes per man per year for saleable steel. The company has closed down a rolling mill, a narrow strip mill and a steel melting shop during the year for 100 per cent steel production through the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) route. Irani said the company would now be able to produce steel at a competitive price. Tisco is progressively reducing the production of semi-finished (semis) steel. It intends to eliminate semis from its product mix in 18 months. Last year, semis had a 17 per cent share in the product-mix. Flat products accounted for 51 per cent and long products 32 per cent of the total sales. Irani said the company?s main thrust would be on value-added products which have the prospects for better price realisation. ?Our future prospects lie on the cold-rolled mill that we are putting up here at an investment of Rs 1600 crore,? he added. The company has invested Rs 727 crore in 1999, mostly on the cold rolled mill project.