A new cannabis industry association in Australia is calling on the federal government to do more to protect the country’s fledgling cannabis industry from a wave of imports from countries like Canada.

The newly formed Australian Cannabis Cultivators Guild, which represents a majority of the country’s licensed cannabis producers, recently sent a letter to the federal health minister warning that without the government’s assistance, the industry faces dire times in the near future. 

Although some media in Australia have framed the issue as one specifically with cannabis coming from the Canadian market, Cade Turland, the director at Hale Farm in Tasmania, who is a member of the Guild, says the issue they are highlighting is one relating to all imports, not just Canada. 

Growers like him in Australia, he says, can’t compete with products coming into the legal market from places like South Africa, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay, Portugal, and Canada. Not only can these countries often produce at a lower price than Australian growers, but the regulatory burden in Australia adds to this financial imbalance.

Turland says he thinks the Australian government can ease that regulatory burden by learning some lessons from the Canadian market, particularly how Canada has “micro” licenses that allow for a less costly facility. 

In addition, he notes how the Canadian industry, specifically, which has supplied the bulk of the cannabis sold in the Australian market since 2017, has enjoyed a sort of incubation period in which it could get up to speed without outside pressure from imports.

“Canada is not the problem, I think the regulations are a heavy burden here, that’s the real problem,” Turland tells StratCann. “And Canada is ultimately well-capitalized, and it had ten years longer in the market than us. We haven’t had time to develop.”

This means that those with the skillset in Australia, he explains, haven’t been able to find their way into the market.

“As an industry operator, we do believe there should be easier access for participants who are lower risk. We believe that is going to be a core part of servicing the market here.”

At Hale Farms, he grows both indoors and outdoors, mainly for minor cannabinoids for the purpose of solventless extraction. Although his production costs should be relatively low with a reliance on outdoor production, the cost and time to get the facility up and running, and the day-to-day operations, make it incredibly capital-intensive. 

In addition, international competition means companies don’t have the opportunity of the kind of learning curve the Canadian industry enjoys. 

“The reality is, the Canadian market is buffered from the global markets because you don’t allow imports, continues Turland. “We are the dumping ground of the entire world. We have products here from countries where our wages are ten times higher. We can’t compete with Thailand because their general labour costs are much lower.”

In addition, companies operating in Thailand, he says, can very easily set up with a far lower regulatory burden and quickly sell into the Australian market. Turland and the Guild in general want to see the Australian government address this uneven playing field or face what they say is the impending implosion of the country’s ability to supply its own medical industry. 

Mathew Dent, the director of cultivation at Wangara Cultivation Co. in Queensland, Australia, agrees that the main issue concerning the producers he talks to is the influx of product from Thailand, where he says it’s very easy to quickly set up a licence at minimal cost and quickly send products into Australia. 

Like Turland, he says the import issue is making it difficult for Australian producers to have the time to sort out internal issues like the Canadian industry had. 

“I don’t think anyone would have an issue competing with Canada on quality once everything is sorted, but I would just invite Canadians to consider if they had the same level of competition in their market,” says Dent. “The Canadian market was protected from day one from imports. How would the market have fared if they didn’t have that time to figure out their systems before competing with a country like Thailand that can pay people a dollar a day?”

He notes that imports from Canada helped ensure Australians had access to medical cannabis at a time the local industry was not yet ready, but also highlights the lack of reciprocity from the Canadian market, which doesn’t, in practice, allow cannabis imports into the commercial medical market.

“We’ve definitely come a long way quality-wise, but in the beginning, the reality is we would not have been able to serve Australian patients without Canadian imports. However, it doesn’t take away from the fact that we’re not dealing with a level playing field because of that import ruling on the Canadian side. Australia hasn’t had that luxury.” 

“But the issues we’re seeing now with countries like Thailand flooding the market, that’s the real concern for us. We’re fine with Canada because it’s been there all along, and you guys ask a fair price for a fair product, but this increased pressure from Thailand’s market is doubling down on how difficult it is to survive here in Australia.”

Related Articles

Australian Senate Standing Committee releases report on the current barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis in Australia

March 26, 2020

Australian Senate rejects cannabis legalization bill

November 27, 2024

Australia’s cannabis regulator has issued more than $600,000 in fines

June 26, 2024

Canada does allow imports of cannabis for medical purposes or research purposes from countries like Australia, but these are on a very limited basis. Medical supply is only authorized in cases where the domestic supply is not sufficient. 

As of September 2024, Health Canada, the federal regulatory authority for cannabis, had only endorsed about 38 kilograms of dried cannabis flower and 59 litres of cannabis oil for import, all for scientific purposes. None were for medical purposes. 

At the same time, the regulator endorsed about 295,934 kilograms of dried cannabis for export and 52,662 litres of cannabis oil for export. Much of that has been to Australia.

Australia legalized medical cannabis in 2016, and by 2017, Canadian cannabis companies were announcing exports of cannabis oil and flower to the country. However, many of these initial shipments were relatively small (just the equivalent of 200 grams in 2017). 

Based on the most recently available figures, by 2021, Canadian companies exported nearly 5,800 kg of cannabis to Australia; by 2023, that figure was over 34,000 kg out of a total of 42,104 kg.

Cannabis exports have helped alleviate pressure on what has grown into a significant oversupply of cannabis in the domestic medical and non-medical markets. As exports increased, emptying vaults in small and large producers alike, domestic prices began to creep back up after years of steady declines, buoying many growers struggling with razor-thin margins.

Many Australian cannabis companies, like some in Israel, say this makes it too hard for domestic companies to get a foothold in their own market. In late 2024, some told the country’s Sydney Morning Herald that they are struggling to compete with what some characterize as product “dumping”. 

These mirror arguments levied by Israel’s Minister of Economy, who has threatened hefty tariffs of up to 165% on Cannabis coming from Canada.

The concern some producers raise in both of these countries is that the large surplus of cannabis in the Canadian market has led to some Canadian companies offloading large quantities of older supply into the export market that they cannot sell domestically. 

In the case of Israel, a report from the Minister of Economy argued that Canadian companies have been selling cannabis at below market prices, something disputed not only by the Canadian cannabis industry but also by others in the Israeli industry and even other Israeli government agencies, including the Health Minister. 

The Australian government does not appear to have waded into the fray, at least not yet. 

Related Articles

Canadian cannabis a “strategic risk” for Israel, claims Commissioner for Trade Levies

April 18, 2025

Redrawing the Map: global cannabis trade in 2025

April 28, 2025

Canada’s medical cannabis market remains steady, exports continue to increase

January 14, 2025

Trevor Steinthal, the chief product officer at Olistica Health, a product development and procurement company in the Australian medical market, says any action from the federal government is unlikely. Too much of the Australian industry relies on imports from countries like Canada to impose any such limits, he argues. 

It’s created a catch-22 where the Australian industry needs imports, but their reliance on imports means the domestic industry cannot get a foothold. 

“You’re looking at arguably the most mature adult-use and medical marketplace in the world in Canada,” Steinthal tells StratCann. “There is a breadth of genetic variability and cultivars available, grown at a top level and at scale, which makes it extremely affordable for the importation of high-quality, what I would call triple and quad product coming out of Canada. 

“So if you’re a brand here in Australia and you’re looking to get a leg up, it’s getting very noisy and very crowded.”

“I’m starting to see some [Australian] growers competing in terms of quality and price, especially when you add in everything it takes to get product here, but there isn’t a ton of it yet,” he adds. “Literally speaking, there might be a couple tons.”

“I can get what I would consider top-tier cannabis landed for a dollar less than I would pay here [in Australia] of comparable quality with a heck of a lot more choice,” he later adds. “That’s what they’re up against.” 

Although he’s not a part of the Guild, Chris Nasr at Nectar Brands, which connects patients with physicians, agrees that without some kind of government assistance, the industry in fledgling cannabis Australia is in trouble. 

“Free trade is a part of any industry, but to support our industry actually getting off the ground and being able to play out its role in domestic and global supply chains, I think something needs to be done to some degree.” 

“Australian producers want to compete head-to-head, and the opportunity to do so,” he adds. “But the framework of the market makes it difficult to obtain.”

For Turland, back at Hale Farms, who has helped spearhead much of the Guild’s efforts thus far, the issue isn’t just one that impacts Australians. Canadian producers are now having to compete in the international cannabis market with countries like Thailand and many others who can sell at a much lower cost than Canada, too.  

“Canada should care. Australians will stop buying Canadian exports if they can buy it all from Thailand. The pricing is way cheaper out of Thailand than it is out of Canada. It’s going to blow everyone out of the water.”

“This isn’t about getting rid of all imports,” he emphasizes. “This is because there needs to be some form of Australian-supply-first policy given out. We have the permitted capacity to fill all of the demand in the country.”

Featured image of Wangara Cultivation Co.

Related Articles

Some Australian cannabis companies growing weary of Canadian imports

October 29, 2024

Colombian Agricultural Institute posts draft requirements for Canadian cannabis imports

February 20, 2025

Canadian cannabis finds its way to foreign shores in more ways than one

September 4, 2023