Export value of Afghan opium down 18 percent: UN

Lower cultivation, output and falling prices of opium have seen its export value in Afghanistan drop 18 percent since last year, the UN office on drugs and crime (UNODC) said Thursday. In 2009, the potential gross export value of opium from Afghanistan was 2.8 billion dollars (1.95 billion euros), or about a quarter of the country's gross domestic product, the UNODC found in its 2009 Afghanistan Opium Survey published on Thursday.
In 2008, the export value was 3.4 billion dollars, or a third of GDP. "Market forces are moving against the Afghan drugs trade as lower revenues and excess production have put a damper on supply," the UNODC said in a statement. The land surface dedicated to opium cultivation dropped this year by 22 percent from 2008, while production fell 10 percent to 6,900 tons.