BEIJING, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's steel imports registered rapid growth in the first 10 months of the year, while the decline in exports narrowed, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The country's steel imports surged 73.9 percent year on year to over 17 million tonnes in the Jan.-Oct. period. The growth was up 1.7 percentage points from the first three quarters, MIIT data showed.

Around 44.43 million tonnes of steel was exported in the first ten months, down 19.3 percent year on year, narrowing the decline by 0.3 percentage points from the first three quarters.

In October, the country's steel imports registered an 87.6-percent growth to 1.93 million tonnes, while exports reached around 4.04 million tonnes, down 15.5 percent year on year.

Amid solid efforts to bolster the economy, the country's major steel firms saw sales revenue grow 7.2 percent year on year to 3.8 trillion yuan (about 580 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months.