Tequila sunrise: After booming demand and soaring prices left them dry, Mexico's tequila producers are facing a brighter future. (Spotlight).

Salvador Ibarra, police chief of Tequila, Jalisco, likes his tequila derecho, or straight But since the nation's most famous beverage shot up in price, he has had to keep a sober glance fixed on the town's surrounding fields of blue agave, the spiky maguey plant from which tequila is made.

A soaring global appetite for the spirit during the 1990s led to severe shortages of the plant, sending prices through the roof early last year. This paved the way for a new crime: agave theft.

So, in this dusty town of 63,000 inhabitants that gave the fiery drink its name, a special police squad was formed.

"They're known as the policia mezcalera," Ibarra boasts. "Since they started operations a year ago they've arrested around 32 plant rustlers."

The tequila boom statistics are startling: In 1994, 80 million liters of tequila were produced, roughly half of which were exported, but by 1999 production had soared to 190.6 million liters. According to Ramon Gonzalez, director of the Tequila Regulatory Council in Guadalajara, the agave shortage brought tequila production down to 181.6 million liters last year and for this year a further reduction of 10% is expected.

"We are no longer suffering from a tequila crisis," says Gonzalez, "but we are certainly in a situation of over-demand."

Today, tequila represents 2% of all spirits consumed worldwide, up from 1% in 1994. Exports totaled 47 million liters in 1994, and rose to 98.8 million liters in 2000.

DOWN THE HATCH?

In response to the agave shortage, 35 million agaves were planted last year, bringing the total number of plants in 2000 to 147 million. Meanwhile, an additional 40 million agaves are to be planted this year alone, and industry insiders believe that tequila production will be up again by 2003.

The delay, however, is due to the fact that while tequila competes against rum, whiskey and vodka in national and international markets, unlike its rivals, its prime material is not fast-growing cane or grain. Tequila's special kick comes from one of 17 different species of maguey A gave tequilana Weber, which takes a minimum of seven years to reach maturity. Consequently, the plant shortage, which peaked in 1999, is taking time to rectify.

Even so, scientists at Jalisco-based CIATEJ, a scientific and technological research center, are developing ways of increasing the pace of the plant's maturation and experts have been scouting out new land to grow on. Already 99% of the land in Jalisco's central zone is dedicated to agave plantations, and more is being developed in the state's "Los Altos" region.

Moreover, following the recognition of tequila's denomination of origin underthe Lisbon Agreement, authentic tequila can be made in only 180 municipalities, found in five Mexican states, with Jalisco laying claim to 124.

Since a spirits-protection agreement was signed with the European Union (EU) in 1999,25 European countries have outlawed pseudo-tequilas, and more than 60 false brands have been detected and eliminated. The accord has also allowed tequila to gain prestige in foreign markets.

So, the industry's future is far from bleak. One show of market confidence was Spanish firm Osborne's purchase in June of 25% of Herradura, one of the top names in the industry. High taxes (130 pesos on a bottle of 100% agave anejo), soaring prices and agave theft have yet to cripple this national treasure.

Barbaro Kostelein is a Mexico Citybased freelance writer.

* Seeing double?

The shortage of agave has led to a recent surge in non-100% tequilas on
the market. They usually contain 51% tequila, to which sugar cane is
often added:


Tequila content                              100%              51%

Agave needed for a
75-centiliter bottle                          7kg            3.5kg
2000 (181.6 m/L)

Breakdown of total tequila
 production in millions of liters
 (m/L)

Total                                        100%              51%

1999 (190.6 m/L)                   61.5 m/L (32%)  129.1 m/L (68%)
2000 (181.6 m/L)                   25.1 m/L (14%)  156.5 m/L (86%)