* Consumer environment not worsening, but no quick recovery
* Sees improvement towards the end of this year
* Not interested in Kingfisher store space in China
* Aiming for own-label sales to be 15-20 pct of total sales
(Adds quotes, background)
By Mark Potter
BARCELONA, May 6 (Reuters) - The consumer environment is not getting any worse, but there is unlikely to be a rapid recovery from the current downturn, Bob Willett, head of U.S. retailer Best Buy's international business, told Reuters.
"I don't think it's going to get worse, but this is going to be a lengthy process. We're not going to come out of this in a hurry," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Retail Congress on Wednesday.
"I'm not sure we've seen all the fallout from the credit card side of life, where banks are cutting back on giving people credit," Willett said, adding that much of the government aid to help banks had gone on repairing their balance sheets rather than boosting credit.
"I think we'll start to see improvements towards the back end of this year."
Willett was relaxed about German retailer Metro AG's plans to expand its MediaMarkt business, Europe's biggest electricals retailer, into China.
"We're quite happy about what we do and we're quite happy about facing them, or anyone else for that matter," he said.
Willett said he planned to open between seven and 12 Best Buy branded stores in China this year after opening four in fairly quick succession to take the current total to five.
"I want to see how these other four pan out before we push ahead with the others, but we will push ahead," he said.
Willett said Best Buy was not interested in renting space in China from British home improvements retailer Kingfisher, which said in March it was in talks with a number of retailers about sharing some of its stores there.
Sales of Best Buy's own-label products, like Insignia and Rocket Fish, had been growing "really well" over the past 18 months, Willett said.
Over the next few years, the firm hoped to increase own-label sales to between 15 percent and 20 percent of total sales, up from about 5-6 percent currently, he said. (Editing by Sarah Morris and Elaine Hardcastle)