LOS ANGELES — Steel beam imports arriving at U.S. ports were set to soar in January from the previous month, led by shipments from South Korea and Spain.

Import license applications in the two major beam categories, standard and wide-flange, totaled 31,075 tonnes last month compared with December preliminary import figures of 11,930 tonnes, according to data from the Commerce Department’s Import Administration. January applications for standard beams more than doubled to 11,254 tonnes, while applications for wide-flange beam imports more than tripled to 19,821 tonnes.

The largest number of permit applications last month were submitted for South Korean beams at 12,291 tonnes, all for wide-flange product, vs. just 237 tonnes in December.

Material from Spain totaled 9,490 tonnes in January, compared with 4,092 tonnes the previous month. The Spanish material included 5,914 tonnes of standard beams in January vs. 1,598 tonnes in December.

Permit applications for Mexican beams totaled 5,014 tonnes in January compared with just 2,818 tonnes the previous month.

But imports from Luxembourg—usually among the leading supplier to the United States—fell to 1,972 tonnes from 2,841 tonnes.