Australians are prepared to pay about six times more for a gram of the drug that when crystallised becomes ice than British users, an inquiry has heard.

Representatives of law enforcement authorities including the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and the Australian Crime Commission appeared at a joint parliamentary inquiry into crystal methamphetamine (ice) use in Canberra on Wednesday night.

A parliamentary inquiry has heard authorities have removed more than four tonnes of ice from the streets. Credit:File picture

According to the United Nations' Illicit Drug Data Report, the median street value of one gram of methylamphetamine in 2013-14 was $675 in Australia compared with between $81 and $162 in the United Kingdom, between $23 and $512 in the US and $111 in China, they said in a submission to the inquiry.

Most of the Australian precursor chemicals for ice were imported from China and then used to make the drug in Australia, they said.