Cocaine Production in Peru

Abstract

Peru exports about 700 metric tonnes (MT) of washed basic cocaine paste each year. Figures for the prices paid for the paste and for pure cocaine by brokers, importers and dealers vary enormously. There are many reasons for this. The cocaine content of coca leaves varies from 0.72 per cent in Bolivia to 0.28 per cent in Colombia, with Peru in the middle at about 0.53 per cent.¹ Costs of transport by aircraft, boats or couriers, in bulk and in small smuggled packages, vary; and so do the sizes of payments to terrorists, corrupt police officers, soldiers, and officials in countries down the line. The price which consumers are prepared to pay on the streets also varies, depending on the perceived degree of dilution (on which the buyer may be misled), and on the effectiveness of police control exercised in different countries. The figures given in this chapter, therefore, provide only some typical examples, to illustrate the enormous escalation in price from the grower to the consumer.