Le Maire was responding to French media reports earlier this week that St Gobain was considering the sale of a 60 percent stake in its Pont-A-Mousson unit to Chinese company XinXing Ductile Iron Pipes.

"I would not say 'no' to a Chinese investment," Le Maire told French TV station BFM.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Gareth Jones)