Wholesale cannabis sales increase in BC while prices decline

August 19, 2024 | David Brown

The amount of cannabis sold in BC continues to increase while the price continues to decrease, according to the LDB’s newest quarterly report.

The provincial cannabis wholesaler’s Q1 2024 report shows 36,418,336 grams sold in April, May, and June 2024, and more than $140.5 million in wholesale sales. The former represents an 18.8% year-over-year increase from Q1 2023, while the latter is a 10.6% increase over the same period.

Grams sold and wholesale sales were also up from the previous quarter, a period that saw some of the first declines in the province since legalization.

The average price of a gram of cannabis continues to decline in BC as well, down 6.9% from Q1 2023 to $3.86, while the price of a gram of dried flower dropped 6.3% from Q1 2023 to just $3.19.

The number of retail stores in BC increased year-over-year, from 485 at the end of June 2023 to 505 at the end of June 2024, and up from 501 at the end of March. BC breaks down stores into four regions of the province: the lower mainland, the island, the interior, and the north. Three of these regions saw total store counts increase compared to the same period in 2023, while the interior showed its second quarter of declines, down two stores from Q1 2023 and one store from Q3 2023.

Sales of eighths of dried flower continue to decline in terms of grams sold, down 18.6% year-over-year, while 7-gram SKUs increased 64.2%, 14/15-gram SKUs increased 22.7%, and 28-gram offerings increased 13.8% from the same period in 2023.

Year-over-year variance in terms of units sold increased across all product categories except topicals and ingestible extracts, which declined by 11.6% and 32.4%, respectively. The decline in ingestible extracts was due to Health Canada pushing back on certain products within the category, such as Glitches and Jolts.

Within those categories, sales in units of capsules and pills increased 7.9% but were dragged down by a 20% decline in sales of oils and tinctures and a 72.5% decrease in ingestible extracts. Capsules and pills represented 50.1% of total units sold in this category, while oils and tinctures represented 33.5% and other ingestible extracts were 16.4%

In the topicals category, balms saw a 39.6% year-over-year increase, face masks, topical oils, and sprays saw a 299.3% increase, but all other categories saw double-digit declines.

The most significant growth in the vapes category continues to be disposables, with units sold increasing 69.4% year-over-year ($3.4 million in wholesale sales). Infused pre-rolls increased by 24.7% in terms of units sold compared to the same period in 2023, for a total of $18.6 million in wholesale sales. Infused pre-rolls were again the top-selling ingestible extract in Q1 2024 at 46.7% of all units sold, compared to cartridges at 37.7%.

Resin and rosin sales increased year-over-year by 50.9% in terms of units sold, while diamonds, wax, and crumble declined by 12.2%.

Direct delivery

Sales in BC’s direct delivery system, however—which allows some BC cannabis producers to ship products directly to retailers, bypassing the BC LDB’s central distribution warehouse—show an opposite trend, with prices increasing and sales declining.

The total grams sold through the program (617,359) declined 20.8% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023, while wholesale sales ($3 million) fell 18.9%. Meanwhile, the price of all cannabis sold through the program increased by 2.4% to $4.81 a gram, while the price of flower increased by 3.3% to $4.15.

Despite these year-over-year declines, the total grams sold in the program did increase slightly from the previous quarter by 14,834 grams. At the same time, wholesale sales remained relatively steady at about $3 million. The price of cannabis also declined slightly from the previous quarter, at $4.94 a gram for all cannabis and $4.42 a gram for dried flower.

The amount of beverages, pre-rolls, and topicals sold in the program continues to increase year-over-year compared to the previous quarter. Flower showed a slight increase in sales compared to the previous quarter but was down 8.5% year-over-year. The amount of cannabis plants sold through the program continues to increase, while seed sales show a slight year-over-year decrease but a quarterly increase. Plant sales are higher than seed sales by a significant margin.

Pre-rolls are the most commonly sold product in this category, followed by flower and inhalable extracts.