The CCSI was assessed at C$5.10 per gram this week, down -1.1% from last week’s C$5.15 per gram. This week’s price equates to US$1,844 per pound at the current exchange rate.
Each week, Business of Cannabis delivers a series of insights from our partners at Cannabis Benchmarks®.
As competition intensifies in the cannabis cultivation sector and a supply surplus continues to depress wholesale prices, some Licensed Producers (LPs) have shut down already-built indoor growing facilities and are questioning future development plans.
This is quite a change in direction from the first few years of legalization. More Canadian cannabis cultivators are shifting to outdoor operations and moving away from indoor growing.
Statistics Canada released licensed cultivation growing area data this past week after almost nine months. The latest data set gives us a view of the indoor and outdoor growing area up through September 2021.
There was 1.73M square meters of indoor growing capacity in September 2021, which was down from 2.0M square meters a year earlier. This represents a 13.5% drop in indoor growing area.
In contrast, there is a big push towards outdoor growing. Outdoor growing area increased substantially, reaching 894 hectares in September 2021. This is a massive jump relative to the same month in the previous year. Over the 12 month period, outdoor cannabis cultivation capacity grew by 308 hectares or 53%.
With more farmland dedicated to cannabis, we can expect a larger jump in unpackaged supply with each autumn harvest.
In the 2019 and 2020 cannabis supply data, we have seen a large month-over-month jump in nationwide production due to the outdoor harvest from September to October.
Last year, with 894 hectares dedicated to outdoor cannabis growing, there was likely an even higher production jump in October, which will continue to fill federal and provincial inventories and put pressure on prices.
Source: Canada Cannabis Spot Index, Cannabis Benchmarks
See previous weekly updates from Cannabis Benchmarks:
- Canadian cannabis retail store count right now
- Flattening cannabis sales part of a common trend?
- Cannabis sales and store insights from BC
- Cannabis store count in Alberta right now
- A look at monthly cannabis sales in Canada
- How to compare annual cumulative cannabis sales in Canada
- Canadian cannabis consumer and patient trends right now
- Daily cannabis spend per consumer in BC now
- 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
