Retail cannabis sales year-over-year growth continues to slow, retail stores decrease

June 21, 2024 | David Brown

Retail cannabis sales rebounded in February and April after dropping to their lowest in nearly a year in January 2024, according to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada.

Although cannabis sales in Canada still show year-over-year growth, the increase in those sales continues to slow as the market reaches a possible saturation point.

Retail cannabis sales in Canada were $539 million in April 2024, after dropping to $518 million in January after the holiday shopping season. Those numbers were up $11 million in February to $529 million, then declined again in March before increasing again in April to $539 million.

Sales numbers are still down from a record high of $564 million in August 2023, which was followed by five months of declines before bouncing back to $539 million in December. Then, in January 2024, retail cannabis sales dropped to $518 million, using seasonally adjusted numbers. This represents a $20 million year-over-year increase from sales figures in January 2023 ($498 million).

Retail cannabis sales have continued to increase on a year-over-year basis since legalization, but the exponential increases have given way to more modest gains as the market appears to be reaching a ceiling in terms of sales.

From January 2019 to January 2020, sales increased from $54 million to $160 million, nearly tripling. These numbers nearly doubled to $310 million by January 2021 and then increased by about one-third to $418 million by January 2022. By January 2023, that figure was $498 million, and in January 2024 it was $518 million, an annual increase of only about 4%.

Wholesale sales, price and volume of cannabis (seasonally adjusted) dropped in April from a record high of $636 million in March 2024. Previously, the high water mark in this category was $606 million in August 2023 followed by several months of declines to a low of $515 million in January 2024 before increasing again in February and March.