Cannabis production in Canada rallied in the second half of 2023 after a seven-month decline following a high water mark in November 2022.
Chained at 2017 dollar rates, the value of cannabis production in the legal industry in Canada reached $6.47 million, the highest it has been in 2023 since February.
While the regulated industry has shown steady year-over-year growth since 2018, the level of growth has been slowing as the industry begins to hit a potential ceiling in demand within the confines of the regulations.
The low in June 2023 of $5.78 million was the lowest since November 2021, as the industry appears to be potentially levelling out.
Legal cannabis stores, which, although not as pronounced as cannabis production, have also been increasing year-over-year since 2018 despite some slight monthly declines. Through 2023, however, those increases began to slow down, with November’s $1,079,000 being slightly lower than October’s $1,082,000, although still well above $872,000 in November 2022.
At the same time, the unregulated cannabis industry has been slowly but steadily declining over the same time. In October 2018, the GDP for the unregulated cannabis industry was $2.73 million, with month-over-month declines since, arriving at $1.64 million in November 2023.
Money from unlicensed cannabis stores showed a similar decline, with revenue in October 2018 at $1.26 million, followed by month-over-month declines to just $692,000 in November 2023. Legal, fully-regulated retail stores passed unregulated stores in December 2021.
