The effect of P, ranging from 0.0 to 0.10 mass%, on the core losses of electrical steels containing 2.0 mass% silicon has been investigated. The core losses were separated into hysteresis losses, classical eddy current losses and anomalous losses. The hysteresis losses were found to decrease with increasing P content due to a larger grain size brought about by P additions. The anomalous losses were proportional to the square root of the grain size, and decreased with increasing volume fraction of grains with a ND || <111> orientation. The lowest anomalous losses were obtained at 0.05 mass% P content.