World cocaine production has skyrocketed to all-time highs following a small halt due to the COVID-19 Pandemic,
with a huge demand and more and more criminal groups involved, says the UN in a study published this Thursday in Vienna.
“World supply is at record levels”points out the World Report on Cocaine 2023, which specifies that in 2020 almost 2,000 tons of cocaine hydrochloride were produced, more than double that in 2014.
This production is of the highest purity, so the figure that reaches the The market is much larger as drug traffickers mix the drug with other substances to increase their profits.
The increase in production is due to both the expansion of cultivation of coca bush as to the improvements in the transformation process into cocaine.
The report details that coca cultivation shot up 35% between 2020 and 2021, a record figure and the largest year-on-year increase since 2016.
Strong supply growth is accompanied by a steady rise in demand for cocaine. Although traditional markets of this drug, North America and Europa
continue to be the most important, the enormous production may allow an expansion towards Africa and Asia.
“The increase in the global supply of cocaine should put us all on high alert,” said the director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Waly, in a statement.
“The potential for the expansion of the cocaine market in Africa and Asia is a dangerous reality“, he added.
However, cocaine seizures by security forces around the world have also increased. considerably, reaching a record of almost 2,000 tons in 2021.
In fact, those seizures have increased at a faster rate than production, which means that it has contained the growth of cocaine available for consumption.
NEW ROUTES
Large North Sea ports such as AntwerpRotterdam and Hamburg, have replaced Spain and Portugal as the most frequent entry points for cocaine into Western Europe.
In Antwerp alone, almost 90 tons of cocaine were seized in 2021, while in Rotterdam there were more than 70 tons.
Drug traffickers try to smuggle large amounts of drugs into containers taking advantage of the enormous commercial activity in these ports.
Although Colombia continues to dominate the routes from South America to the US market, drug traffickers have diversified their routes in Central America, from where more and more cocaine is sent to Europe.
Regions such as West and Central Africa as well as South East Europe are becoming increasingly important as key transit areas for drugs.
MORE CRIME GROUPS
The report notes that the criminal landscape is fragmenting and more and more criminal groups are involved in the business.
The demobilization in Colombia of the Farc,
that until then controlled many of the coca-growing regions of the country, it paved the way for other groups, both local and foreign, especially from Mexico and the Balkans.
In Brazil, organized crime seems to be increasingly targeting Portuguese-speaking African countries, such as Mozambique, Angola and Cape Verde.
In addition, the report reveals that so-called “Service providers”, that is, specialized groups that provide their services throughout the supply chain in exchange for payment or commission.
“These groups range from motorcycle gangs in Belgium to well-connected organized crime groups in Guatemala. Experts believe that this practice is widespread in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa,” the report states.
Experts argue that when smuggling routes and methods converge, the same groups can become involved in various criminal activities.
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