Dairy producers are pushing USDA to increase tariffs on butter product imports, saying import levels have more than doubled since last year. According to the National Milk Producers Federations (NMPF), butter imports are up 89% in the first seven months of 2004, fast approaching the 13,754 metric ton safeguard level. The USDA's most recent data on butter sales for the first nine months of 2004 has confirmed NMPF's concerns that imports would exceed the safeguard trigger level. According to the most recent data from USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service, butter product imports through September were 13,888 metric tons, or 101% of the safeguard level. Once total butter imports have reached the set safeguard threshold, which represents a 100% growth rate in a calendar year, the U.S. government is entitled to impose higher-than-normal tariffs on butter products.