French ports are becoming a key route for cocaine smuggling
French ports have moved to the “forefront of cocaine trafficking,” with supply routes evolving and production steadily increasing, the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) said in its latest annual report.
In 2024, cocaine seizures in France reached a record 53.5 tonnes, with the vast majority, 41.8 tonnes, or 78 percent of the total volume, occurring at sea ports. The port of Le Havre serves as the primary gateway; in 2024 alone, authorities intercepted 14.4 tonnes at the port, nearly tripling the 5.3 tonnes seized in 2023.
Despite the surge in drug volumes, the seizures underscore heightened “enforcement activity against cocaine trafficking," Yasmine Salhi, an economist at the OFDT, told OCCRP. "The volumes intercepted depend in part on the intensity of controls and the operational capabilities of law enforcement agencies,” she said.
Salhi added that while record seizures may point to a steady flow of narcotics, the trend likely reflects a combination of "strengthening interception activities and an increase in available supply.”
Traffickers are also increasingly relying on online marketplaces and digital channels to access a wider pool of consumers, “allowing traffickers to interact more and more easily with all consumers,” according to OFDT.
The watchdog noted that cocaine is becoming cheaper and more accessible in line with the surge in supply. Between 2023 and 2024, the wholesale price of cocaine fell 9 percent to 29,800 euro per kilogram, while the retail price per gram dropped by an “unprecedented 12 percent” to 58 euro, according to 2025 data from France’s anti-narcotics office, OFAST.
“When supply increases —for example in the event of overproduction or easier transportation— prices tend to fall, which is currently the case for cocaine, both at the wholesale and retail levels,” Salhi explained. She cited Colombia as a producer country witnessing "increased cultivation and production."
Even more alarmingly, alongside the increased accessibility of the drug due to growing supply and falling prices, its potency has also increased. The monitoring authority noted that the content of the active ingredient in cocaine has risen “sharply" in recent years, with the price of the pure product having declined.