ArcelorMittal could cut 10,000 jobs: report

PARIS (Reuters) - ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, could cut 10,000 jobs worldwide next year to boost productivity and reduce general expenses by around $500 million, French newspaper Les Echos said on Monday.

The company, which currently employs 285,300 people, wants to regain lost market share and has a goal for general expenses to account for less than 3.5 percent of revenue, the paper said, citing trade union representatives who attended a European workers committee meeting on December 9 to 10.

ArcelorMittal said in an e-mailed statement it did not want to comment on the figures mentioned in the report as they were not final.

"During ArcelorMittal's plenary meeting with its European Works Council last week, company representatives discussed the possibility that the business could expect some global workforce reductions next year due mainly to natural attrition and optimization of production," the statement said.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, additional reporting by Antonia van de Velde in Brussels; Editing by Greg Mahlich and David Holmes)