MUMBAI, Jan 30 (Reuters)- India's JSW Steel Ltd on Friday urged the government to address "dumping" of cheap steel by Chinese rivals and take steps to improve iron ore availability after lower steel prices led to a 30 percent drop in the company's third-quarter profit.

Steel imports into India leapt by more than 60 percent in the April to December period, with 1 million tonnes imported in December alone, group Chief Financial Officer Seshagiri Rao told reporters in Mumbai.

"We have been representing to the government that they should take steps, as is being done by various countries, in stopping the dumping and to stop injury to the domestic industry," Rao said.

The company has been struggling with restricted supply of steel making raw materials, especially iron ore, due to mining bans in India and high domestic prices, forcing it to resort to imports to keep up production rates.

"The major concern going forward is the iron ore availability and iron ore pricing which is against the interest of domestic steel production," Rao said, pointing to a 14 percent rise in iron ore prices in India over the past year. International prices have halved in that time.

JSW Steel, which needs about 25 million tonnes of the steel making raw material per year, said it imported over 40 percent of its requirement in the December quarter.

It posted a consolidated net profit of 3.29 billion rupees ($53.07 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, its fiscal third.

The company also said it was increasing its focus on value-added steel products to differentiate itself from competition domestically and in the international market, where it faces pressure from Russian as well as Chinese steel makers.

"We are changing the product mix so that we are not competing in the commodity space with the Chinese. We are making that extra effort to see that more and more value added products get exported." Jayant Acharya, Director - Commercial and Marketing at JSW Steel, said.

($1 = 61.9970 Indian rupees)