Seizures of methamphetamine have shown a clear upward trend in Oceania over the last decade.

• Seizures of methamphetamine in Oceania reached a new record high in 2024, mainly driven by rising seizures reported from Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, the number of dismantled methamphetamine laboratories in Australia and New Zealand has declined, suggesting that methamphetamine is increasingly being imported from abroad.
• An analysis of the imported methamphetamine showed a strong decline in ephedrine/pseudoephedrine based (imported) methamphetamine in Australia over the 2012-2021 period while the proportion of P-2-P related (imported) methamphetamine rose from some 20 per cent to close to 70 per cent. This is in line with reports that methamphetamine manufactured in North America has surpassed Southeast Asian countries as Australia’s largest supply channel. In contrast, seizures of methamphetamine precursors in both Australia and New Zealand over the 2020-2024 period showed an ongoing dominance of pseudoephedrine, clearly ahead of P-2-P related precursor chemicals seized, suggesting that clandestine domestic manufacture of methamphetamine is still largely pseudoephedrine/ephedrine related.
• The shipments of methamphetamine reaching Australia and New Zealand between 2020 and 2025 originated mainly from North America, East and South-East Asia, and the Near and Middle East.
• Shipments of methamphetamine to Australia and New Zealand via the United States are only economically viable due to the very high retail prices (based on the latest data available) of methamphetamine powder encountered in New Zealand (US$ 24,000-US$ 151,000 per kg) and Australia (US$ 86,300 - US$146,000 per kg), while prices in the United States range from US$6,500 to US$15,000 per kg.
• Individual drug seizures suggest that methamphetamine is also trafficked across Pacific Islands as transit countries towards Australia and New Zealand with the main seizures in these transit countries reported from Fiji, followed by Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Tonga, Northern Marina Islands, Palau and Guam over the 2020-2025 period.

Additional sources:

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Illicit Drug Data Report 2020-21 (October 2023); Australian Federal Police, North American-produced meth on the rise, 6 April 2024, UNODC, World Drug Report 2025, UNODC, responses to the annual report questionnaire. INCB, Precursors chemicals and equipment frequently used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances 2025 (February 2026; and previous years), UNODC, Drugs Monitoring Platform.