Euro Steel Industry Welcomes GOES Safeguards
The European Steel Association (EUROFER) has welcomed the European Commission’s adoption of provisional safeguard measures on imports of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel (GOES).
According to EUROFER, Grain Oriented Electrical Steel (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 and rose by a further 134% between March and June 2026.
“Europe cannot expand and strengthen its electricity grids without maintaining a European supply of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel," said Axel Eggert, director-general of EUROFER. "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.”
“Europe cannot expand and strengthen its electricity grids without maintaining a European supply of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel."
——Axel Eggert, director-general of EUROFER.
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.