Never before has so much coca, the core ingredient of cocaine, been produced worldwide as between 2020 and 2021. The total harvest increased from about 400,000 to almost 600,000 hectares. That year, production increased by 35 percent. This is according to a Thursday published United Nations report. The decline in supply and demand registered during corona has come to an end, the researchers conclude. Due to corona measures, demand for the stimulant drug fell in 2020 and 2021, mainly due to the closing of nightclubs and bars, where cocaine is often used. This decline was somewhat dampened by the increase in home use, particularly among young people.
Smuggling drugs was also made more difficult by the partial halt of international (air) traffic. As a result, producers, mainly in South America, had difficulty reaching their global markets. With the expiry of corona measures, international cocaine use and trade also started again. According to the researchers, the collapse has had little effect on long-term trends. Since the so-called ‘cocaine boom’ of the 1980s, the use of the drug has been on a consistent rise, with a few exceptions.
The supply of cocaine to the markets in Europe and North America still mostly comes from major producer Colombia, which since the 1980s has been plagued to a greater or lesser extent by violent drug cartels that target politicians, judges, police officers and, at times, the population itself. But nowadays production newcomers Bolivia and Peru are growing rapidly, together they grew 39 percent of all coca in 2020. Coca production increased by about 20 percent in 2021. In addition, there have been technological breakthroughs in the conversion process from coca plant to pure cocaine.
Rotterdam harbour
The arrival center of gravity in Europe has shifted in the past decade from the Iberian Peninsula to the Netherlands and Belgium. The ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp play a leading role in the drug smuggling network, as evidenced by major drug finds in recent years. According to the researchers, the accessibility of Dutch and Belgian ports is essential for the growing European availability of cocaine. The volume of cocaine intercepted is rising faster than production, the researchers said. The Mexican cartels are still the most prominent players in the smuggling of production countries to the United States, the largest cocaine market in the world. Although local dealers have become increasingly important in the actual sales to consumers.
The biggest players have been fragmenting for years, such as the Sinaloa Cartel of now-arrested Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, which accounted for 40 to 60 percent of the international drug trade in 2012. It is unclear how much their market share is now, but it is clear that parts of the organization have been split off. Across the board, links in the cocaine chain have become increasingly specialized, partly due to this fragmentation; various organizations produce, smuggle and sell the product. Typically, the largest margin is in smuggling and selling the drug, which are the riskiest activities. Cocaine producers received around 1,500 euros per kilo in 2022, which is traded for 50 to 60,000 euros in Northwest Europe.