Mittal plays down China steel output impact-paper

FRANKFURT Nov 3 (reuters) - The head of ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS) has played down in a German newspaper interview the threat that rising Chinese steel output would swamp global markets.

"The growth in Chinese steel production serves national consumption, not exports," Lakshmi Mittal was quoted as saying by the Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

He detected signs that some Chinese mills would curtail output in the final quarter of the year to perform maintenance, which should restrain production, the paper quoted him as saying.

"There has been a slight improvement in prices of late. That is a sign that they have found a floor and will start to rise again," he said.

Globally the steel sector seemed to be on the mend.

"We think that the worst is over but the recovery will be slow," he was quoted as saying. (Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by Michael Urquhart)