The European Union will impose a series of import quotas and minimum price measures on electrical steel and its downstream products to shield the bloc from cheap-priced imports, it said on September 18.

Under the measures, the EU will establish safeguard quotas on grain-oriented electrical steel as well as laminations and transformer cores containing the metal, in a bid to maintain domestic European production, according to Reuters.

For the steel itself, the minimum price for in-quota imports is set at 2,800-3,400 euros/t, while the minimum price for volumes exceeding the quota is set at 3,500 euros/t.

The move will benefit European electrical steel producers including Thyssenkrupp's steel subsidiary TKSE and Poland's Stalprodukt SA.

According to TKSE CEO Marie Jaroni, this marks the first time the entire value chain — from electrical steel to transformer cores — has been protected, rather than a single product.

The European Commission launched a safeguard investigation into grain-oriented electrical steel in March, according to the report. The investigation is still ongoing, and the measures, which take effect on September 25, are provisional only.

The EU had previously implemented broader protective measures to support its struggling steel industry, but electrical steel was not covered.