Mittal sees strong iron ore, scrap prices

FLEMALLE, Belgium, Mar 1 (Reuters) The head of Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker, said on Wednesday he saw no weakness in raw material prices as a result of the stock market slide in China.

''Some of the commodity prices may fall, but scrap or iron ore prices have already been announced. I don't see the weakness there,'' Chief Executive Lakshmi Mittal told Reuters on the sidelines of a news conference in the eastern city of Liege.

Mittal was in Flemalle, near Liege, to discuss the planned closure of a blast furnace there with unions and local authorities.

He said he was reconsidering whether to go ahead with the closure in 2007.

''In view of the argument of the unions, I promised I would think about it once again,'' he said.

He added he would look at market conditions, but stressed he did not want to give false hope to workers.

REUTERS PB RK0910