Brussels, 18 September 2026 - The European Steel Association (EUROFER) welcomes the European Commission’s adoption of provisional safeguard measures on imports of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES).

GOES is essential for power and distribution transformers and is therefore needed for Europe’s electricity grids, energy infrastructure and electrification. Imports to the EU market have grown: GOES imports in 2025 were 125% above 2021 levels, while imports rose by a further 134% between March and June 2026.

Axel Eggert, Director General of EUROFER, said: “Europe cannot expand and strengthen its electricity grids without maintaining a European supply of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel. This safeguard strikes the right balance: preserving a viable European GOES production base while keeping the market open to the imports needed by transformer manufacturers.”

EUROFER said concerns that the measure would significantly increase the cost of Europe’s electrification should be put into perspective. Expert estimates indicate that the measure would add only around 0.002 cents per kilowatt-hour to overall grid costs. This limited impact reflects the fact that GOES accounts for only a small share of transformer costs, while transformers themselves account for only a limited share of total grid investment.

The impact on overall grid investment and electricity costs in Europe would therefore be extremely limited, while the cost of losing strategic European GOES production could be far greater in terms of resilience, security of supply and dependence on imports.

Crucially, the European Commission’s value-chain approach safeguards the competitiveness of European transformer manufacturers as well as European GOES production. By covering not only GOES coils but also laminations, cores and transformer cores incorporated in imported transformers, the measure prevents import pressure from simply shifting downstream. This ensures that EU transformer makers are not placed at a disadvantage against importers using artificially low-priced GOES outside the EU, while preserving access to the imports needed to compete in European and export markets.