Cocaine Production Rises to Record Levels With U.S. Prices Falling

(Bloomberg) -- Cocaine production globally reached a record in 2017 and that translated to declining prices in the U.S., according to the latest World Drug Report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Cocaine production rose to 1,976 tons in 2017, a 25% increase from the previous year, and just about doubling from 2014 levels.

The retail price in the U.S., per gram, and adjusted for purity, has fallen for three consecutive years. Cocaine prices in the U.S. are lower than most other countries in the United Nations report. On a wholesale basis, only Portugal had lower price in 2017.

The majority of the world’s production comes from Colombia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Tanzi at atanzi@bloomberg.net, Wei Lu

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