The Government of Canada recently released newly updated sales and inventory figures for the cannabis industry, highlighting changing trends as the industry continues to mature. The new numbers are up-to-date through March 2024.
Unpackaged inventory of dried cannabis continued to decline in the first four months of 2024. This figure has declined fairly steadily from a peak in October 2022, except for a slight increase last fall, likely due to outdoor harvests.
Packaged sales of edible cannabis continue to trend upward over the past year, while packaged inventory with federal licence holders and provincial distributors and retailers has remained relatively stable.
Packaged inventory of cannabis extracts with licence holders continues to trend slightly up, while package sales show a continued upward trend with seasonal declines. Extracts sell more in the warmer seasons than in winter, although the decline in these sales in the first few months of 2024 was steeper than in previous years.
Packaged inventory of cannabis topicals was very volatile in 2023 but increased and appeared to level out in late 2023 and early 2024. Cannabis topical sales show a long-term upward trend but still a lot of month-to-month fluctuation.
Packaged inventory of cannabis plants for sale into the medical and non-medical consumer markets increased in March 2024 along with the spring planting season but continued to be much lower than peaks in mid-2023. Most sales of cannabis plants are into the medical market, but sales in the non-medical market in the first half of 2023 spiked significantly.
Sales of dried cannabis in the non-medical sales channels increased slightly in March 2024, the most recent available month, but are down from a record peak last summer. Sales of dried cannabis in the medical sales stream continue to hover around $200-300k a month.
The introduction of clone sales in BC’s direct delivery program in 2023, as well as the opening of the first and only cannabis nursery farmgate store in New Brunswick, are potentially behind much of these seasonal increases.
Whole cannabis plant inventory is up year-over-year in early 2024 but down from highs in 2021.
Inventory of packaged cannabis seeds, especially among federal licence holders, continues to decline from peaks in 2021 and 2022.
The total licensed building area for federal licence holders continues to slowly trend down, as does indoor production area and, to a lesser degree, processing space. Outdoor production space was down month-over-month in March 2024 but has been trending up since 2022.
Estimated employment on federally licensed sites continues to trend slowly downward from peaks in 2021.
