Weekly Report - 1 July 2003

Coca cultivation in Latin America is now down to 173,100 hectares across the three main regional producers, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Of these countries, Colombia accounts for 102,000ha and 222,100t of dry coca leaf production. This in turn translates into 580t of potential cocaine. The assessment comes from the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in its 2003 Global Illicit Drug Trends Report, published on 26 June. 

For coca, 2000 was Colombia's peak year, with 695t of potential cocaine output. For the entire region's drugs industry, 1996 was the top year, with 950t of potential cocaine output.

The other two coca producers are Bolivia, which has 24,000ha of coca bushes (half of which are legal, under Bolivian Law 1008) and 60t of cocaine, and Peru. Peru's coca acreage has been creeping up and now stands at 46,700ha, down from the peak of 129,000ha in 1992, but up from the low of 38,7000ha in 1998. Its production is well down on the peak of 460t in 1996, at 160t in 2002. 

The big change the UN reports is the 30% fall in Colombian coca acreage between November 2001 and December 2002. The overall figure, however, masks a geographical shift in cultivation, mostly northeast, but also to Nariño state in the west. The heart of the coca business used to be Putumayo, which borders Ecuador. Yet here, the coca acreage dropped by 33,000ha and in neighbouring Caquetá it fell by 6,000ha.

On the other hand, Guaviare, which sits above Caquetá, is now the most important coca growing area in the country: it increased acreage by 2,000ha, to 27,000ha. The second-biggest production area is now Nariño on the Pacific coast west of Putumayo, which saw an even greater increase (of 8,000ha) in acreage. The other big growing areas are in the mountains of Bolí­var and Antioquia in the north of the country and along the Venezuelan border in Norte de Santander and Arauca. 

Coca is harvested four times a year. The UN admits that its forecast for output is probably on the low side because it does not include uncultivated coca plantations, which it puts at 480t.

What is interesting is how steady coca prices have been, despite what the UN reckons are quite substantial variations in output. The price of coca base in Colombia did jump in 1994, to US$1,500 per kg, but since then it has been pretty stable for the past eight years at US$850 per kg.

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