The legal Canadian recreational cannabis market opened in October of 2018, and with its arrival, the accompanying market for legally produced and sold recreational cannabis was opened.

This article offers a comprehensive analysis across nine provinces and two territories exploring average whole-flower product prices.

Our data is derived from publicly accessible listings in both private and provincial webstores, from January 2021 to August 2023 inclusive. We hope this analysis can provide the reader with insights into the Canadian legal cannabis market.

Scope

Provinces and territories under consideration are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nunavut Territory, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Yukon Territory, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. All prices are in Canadian dollars (CAD). Please note that sales taxes are not included in these prices.

Prices are displayed as an average and separated into main package sizes. The package sizes under consideration are 1 gram, 3.5 grams (often referred to as an eighth or as a half quarter, which refers to the fraction of an ounce 3.5 grams approximates), 7 grams (a quarter ounce), 14 grams (a half ounce), and 28 grams (an ounce). 

Price Averages

This section examines the static average retail prices of whole flower cannabis sales by package size. The date range is from January 2021 to August 2023 inclusive. The averages from this time range vary from $10.48 for the 1-gram package size to $132.58 for a 28 gram (1 ounce) package.

The average price per gram of whole flower cannabis decreases as the package size increases. The difference between a 1 gram package at $10.48 per gram and a 3.5 gram package at $9.88 per gram is $0.60 per gram, or a 5.72% decrease. Between a 3.5 gram package at $9.88 per gram and a 7 gram package at $7.55 per gram, we have the most significant decrease of the set in absolute dollar amounts at $2.33, representing a discount of 23.6%. Between the quarter-ounce and half-ounce package sizes with prices per gram of $7.55 and $6.63 respectively, we have a difference of $0.92, which represents a 12.2% decrease in price. Finally, between a 14 gram package at $6.63 per gram and a full-ounce package at $4.74 per gram, we have a difference of $1.89, representing a discount of 28.5%, the largest percent decrease between tiers in this set.

Finally, if we compare the average price per gram of 1 gram packages at $10.48 to the average price per gram of 28 gram packages at $4.74, then the difference in average price is $5.74 or a discount of 54.8%.

Monthly Price Per Gram Trends

One Gram Packages

In August 2023, the average price for a 1-gram package was $10.33, which is up $0.08, or an increase of approximately 0.84% from July’s average of $10.25.

Eighths

For a 3.5 gram package in August 2023, the average price per gram was $9.28, which is a decrease of approximately 0.87% or $0.08 from the average price of $9.36 in July 2023.

Quarter Ounces

The average price per gram for a 7 gram package in August 2023 was $6.96, down from the July average of $6.97 by $0.01, marking a decrease of 0.12 percent.

Half Ounces

For a half-ounce package, the average price in August 2023 was $6.61 per gram, which is a decrease of 0.94% from the July price per gram for this package size of $6.67, representing a downward change of $0.06.

Ounces

The August 2023 average price per gram for an ounce package was $4.81, representing a decrease of 0.14% or $0.01 from July 2023’s average of $4.82.

Brand Level Price Averages

We now focus on the maximum and minimum average prices per gram at a brand level.

Beginning with the least expensive brands across all package sizes, we have a three-way tie at the low end with TwD., Buds, & Roxton Air all at $3.33 per gram, followed by Salad Bar at $3.41 per gram. Finally, we have Verse with an average price per gram of $3.43. Of note, from floor to ceiling of the bottom five in price per gram, the difference is a mere $0.10.

Finally, we examine the most expensive price-per-gram brands across all package sizes. Here we proceed from the most to least expensive, starting with Dom Jackson, which was listed with an average price per gram of $14.75, followed by HighXotic at $14.30 per gram average, third most expensive from our research is Growtown at an average price per gram of $13.40, then Volo at $13.33 per gram and finally Elios with an average price per gram of $12.91.

This report is available in full on CannStandard.ca. Sign up for a free trial for a live filterable version.

Written by: Adam Lewis (@squidgrow)