Coronavirus: drop in drug prices in Peru's main production area

Text by: Eric Samson

The price of coca leaf and its derivatives is plummeting in Peru's main drug producing area. Another consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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From our regional correspondent,

In San Francisco, Kimbiri or Pichari, three small towns built along the Apurimac river, service stations are far too numerous for the petrol needs of the population of this remote area of ​​Peru. Normally, most of the gasoline they sell goes to the small laboratories where cocaine paste and cocaine hydrochloride are made.

This region is known as Vraem, the valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers. It is the main drug producing area of ​​Peru. 24,000 of the 49,000 hectares of illegal coca registered in the country are planted here. Today, the entire underground economy of Vraem is in trouble.

According to the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida), which monitors the prices of coca leaf and its derivatives, the price per kilo of cocaine lost 58% between January and April in Vraem. A few days ago, it was only worth 670 euros per kilo.

Confinement means that people who use drugs find it harder to get around, so do sellers and the demand for narcotic drugs is falling. Still between January and April, the price per kilo of coca leaf lost 46% in Vraem, that of cocaine-based pulp 51%.

The health crisis is therefore a severe economic blow for "  those who bet in illegal plantations  ," notes the president of Devida Ruben Vargas on the organization 's web page.

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• Coronavirus
• Drug
• Peru

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