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The price of coca, the raw material of cocaine, has collapsed in recent weeks amid turmoil in the global illegal drugs market.

Growers in the main production areas of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are reported to be struggling to get their harvest to buyers, who are finding it far harder to smuggle the end product. With farmers unable to sell, leaf prices have fallen more than 70 per cent.

One big challenge for the cartels has been the reduction of international commercial flights, a key conduit for much of the cocaine that leaves Latin America for markets in the US, Europe and Asia. The import of the chemicals needed to process the coca leaf and produce cocaine has also been hit.

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