The Canada Cannabis Spot Index was assessed at C$5.13 per gram this week, up 1.7% from last week’s C$5.05 per gram. This week’s price equates to US$1,834 per pound at the current exchange rate.
Each week, Business of Cannabis delivers a series of insights from our partners at Cannabis Benchmarks®.
This week, Cannabis Benchmarks explores the state of British Columbia’s cannabis market. BC has long been one of the cannabis cultivation capitals of North America. Prior to legalization, its ideal climate helped allow the province to develop a deep underground network of craft growers, which in turn supplied cannabis across the country.
However, the robust illicit market is now plaguing the legal industry. Cannabis retail sales in the province are not as large as one might expect due to the continued, large presence of the illegal cannabis trade. BC has the third-largest provincial population in Canada. The latest monthly sales data from Statistics Canada post-November has sales there at C$47.8M for the month. For a province that is known for its cannabis roots, this falls far short of expectations.
Based on a survey done by the Canadian government, roughly 20% of the BC populace is estimated to use cannabis regularly. Based on our analysis, the average cannabis user in BC spends C$1.42/day on legal cannabis products. We believe this number could be substantially higher, but the legal BC markset faces two main obstacles.The first is that many cannabis users still purchase products from the illicit sector. So, while they may identify themselves as cannabis users their purchases do not show up in official stats. The second is a low store count relative to other legalized jurisdictions with, in some cases, illegal stores still in operation. The relationship between store counts and sales is very strong, so with the slow rollout of stores we do not expect BC sales to jump substantially in 2022.
Source: Canada Cannabis Spot Index, Cannabis Benchmarks
See previous weekly updates from Cannabis Benchmarks:
- Canadian retail store counts right now
- A look at average daily cannabis sales in Canada
- Future growth of cannabis retail in Alberta
- Retail store counts in Canada right now
- The mix of cannabis products in Ontario right now
- How to understand legal and illicit cannabis sales
- Comparing legal and illicit cannabis purchases right now
- A look at cannabis retail store counts in Canada
- A look at daily cannabis retail sales in Canada
- Legacy and legal cannabis sales three years after legalization?
- How to understand cannabis’ impact on alcohol sales in Canada
- Understanding cannabis retail store growth in Canada
- A look at average monthly spend per cannabis consumer
- A look at processing licenses issued by Health Canada
- A look at cultivation licenses issued by Health Canada
- Understanding medical versus recreational sales right now
- A look at daily cannabis sales by Province
- How to view dry cannabis sales across Canada
- A look at percentage of legal versus illicit cannabis sales
- A look at the pace of growth for cannabis retail
- A look at monthly cannabis sales in Ontario
- What is the optimal number of cannabis stores in Canada?
- How to compare daily cannabis retail sales by Province
- Understanding the impact of cannabis on alcohol sales in Canada
- A look at cannabis retail store count by Province
- A look at cannabis user statistics in Canada
