Illicit cocaine exports surpassed crude oil sales for the first time to become colombia's single largest export:ased EAFIT University. The study values Colombia's illegal cocaine exports at USD16.5 billion in 2024, eclipsing the USD15 billion generated by the petroleum industry. The surge underscores Colombia's position as the world's primary cocaine producer, responsible for roughly 70 percent of global supply.

According to Philippines News Agency, the explosion of the illicit drug trade stands out sharply against Colombia's major legal export sectors. EAFIT researchers indicated that coal ranked as the third-largest export pillar at USD7.1 billion, followed by legal gold exports at USD4.1 billion and illegal gold mining at USD3.6 billion. The cocaine trade has grown to represent approximately 4.4 percent of Colombia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Specialists warned that over the past decade, the illegal cocaine economy expanded from 0.8 percent of GDP in 2013 to over 4 percent in 2024.

Colombia's annual cocaine output surged tenfold from under 300 metric tons in 2013 to nearly 3,000 metric tons in 2024. The report details how profit margins multiply exponentially along the trafficking supply chain. In Colombia's rural growing regions, a kilogram of raw coca leaf costs approximately USD468. Once processed in clandestine domestic laboratories, the value of a kilo of cocaine hydrochloride rises to USD1,400.

As Colombian criminal groups increasingly extend their reach into international distribution networks outside the country, their returns multiply. The volume-weighted average price for Colombian cartels reaches nearly USD5,920 per kilo upon export, while wholesale prices in destination markets like Europe can exceed USD78,000 per kilo. This deep integration into global supply chains allows domestic criminal syndicates to capture high profit margins generated abroad, cementing drug trafficking's dominant role in Colombia's economy.