United States - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. trade panel gave unanimous final approval Wednesday to antidumping duties ranging up to 118 percent on more than $450 million worth of steel nails from China.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 6-0 that U.S. producers had been materially injured by Chinese steel nails sold in the United States at less than fair value.

The vote clears the way for the U.S. Commerce Department to issue a final anti-dumping duty order on the steel nails. Preliminary duties have been in place.

A coalition of nail manufacturers and union workers in Missouri, California, Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania filled a petition last year asking for import relief against both China and the United Arab Emirates.

Last month, the Commerce Department ruled that UAE producers were not "dumping" steel nails in the United States. However, it said scores of Chinese manufacturers were dumping nails in the U.S. market at prices from 21.24 to 118.04 percent below fair market value.

Imports of steel nails made in China have risen from $379 million in 2005 to $454 million in 2007, or slightly less than half of total U.S. consumption that year, according to U.S. government figures.

The case is one of several that U.S. manufacturers in businesses ranging from steel pipe to refrigerator magnets have brought over the past year against their Chinese competitors.

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department set final duties ranging up to more than 210 percent on off-road tires from China it said were being sold in the United States at unfairly lowed and subsidized prices.

The US ITC will vote in August whether to allow duties to remain in place in that case.