DRUGs: The price of cocaine produced illegally in the country of Peru fell by 58% between January and April
The global health crisis has consequences for all economic sectors… really all of them. The price of illegally produced cocaine in Peru plummeted 58% due to the global coronavirus epidemic, authorities said on Friday based on a report by the National Commission for Development and Drug-Free Living (Devida). ).
El primer reporte del “Monitoreo de precios de hoja de coca y de derivados cocaínicos en Zonas Estratégicas de Intervención”, publicado hoy por @DEVIDAPERU, da cuenta que la crisis sanitaria mundial ha provocado en el Perú un desplome del 46% en el precio de la hoja de coca.(1/3) pic.twitter.com/DCzd8EHlvx
— DEVIDA PERÚ (@DEVIDAPERU) April 30, 2020
From 1600 to 625 euros per kilo
The kilo of cocaine was worth 5,922 soles (about 1,600 euros) in January, and in April, it cost only 2,426 soles (625 euros). The report notes that during the same period, the pandemic caused prices to fall by 46% for coca leaf and 51% for the basic paste with which cocaine is then made. According to the authorities, the stopping of the vast majority of international flights and the confinement of entire populations have made drug trafficking more difficult to conceal, in streets emptied of their inhabitants.
Some 49,000 hectares of coca are cultivated in Peru, where the production of leaves of this plant is legal up to a certain quantity, for a traditional use like “mate”, an infusion made from coca leaves. However, some 11,000 tonnes of coca leaves are produced illegally in the country. Two of its neighbors, Colombia and Bolivia, are among the other major producers, according to UN data.
