MOSCOW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Russia's NLMK NLMK.MM , one of the country's top steelmakers, said on Monday it planned to slash investment by some 80 percent over the next three years due to lacklustre market conditions.

A sharp decline in demand in crisis-hit Europe and signs of a slowdown in top consumer China have forced steel companies to cut costs and reduce output.

NLMK, controlled by billionaire Vladimir Lisin, will invest $1.6 billion between 2014 and 2017 - about 80 percent less than the $8 billion it pumped into its operations in 2008-2012.

This echoes moves by Russian peer Severstal CHMF.MM , which last week said it would invest a quarter less in 2014 than the year before.

NLMK also plans to shrink its debt, aiming for a debt-to-core-earnings ratio of 1. In the third quarter of 2013 the ratio, a key measure of a company's ability to service its debt, stood at 1.9.

The company sees sales rising 8 percent by 2018 to 16.3 million tonnes, compared with 14.9 million last year.

Shares in NLMK, which have lost over 60 percent of their value since hitting a peak in 2011, were trading up 0.4 percent at 1020 GMT.

(Reporting by Svetlana Burmistrova; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Lidia Kelly and David Holmes)

((alessandra.prentice@thomsonreuters.com)(+7 495 775 12 42)(Reuters Messaging: alessandra.prentice.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: RUSSIA NLMK/