Wholesale sales, prices, and volumes for cannabis merchant wholesalers continue to decline from record highs in 2024.

The monthly figures from Statistics Canada track wholesale sales, prices, and volumes, for different industries in Canada, adjusted to remove seasonal variations. 

Those figures dropped to $508 million in April 2025, significantly below the previous month’s $541 million and $544 million for April 2024. The high water mark so far was in February and again in August 2024, followed by several months of declines.

Wholesale trade and sales for cannabis wholesale merchants in April 2025 declined to $247 million from $260.8 million in the previous month and $255.3 million in April 2024. 

Meanwhile, wholesale trade and inventories for cannabis merchant wholesalers declined slightly in April 2025 ($276.8 million) from the previous month but stayed relatively level since early 2023, with some fluctuations. 

Although provincial sales figures in provinces like Ontario, BC, and Quebec show increases in sales, cannabis sales in Canada have been slowing down after several years of rapid growth following the legalization of cannabis in October 2018. 

After several years of consistent growth, retail cannabis sales in Canada have been fluctuating between $400 and $500 million a month for most of the past two years. Year-over-year sales have increased each month since August 2024, although for several months prior, month-over-month sales showed annual declines. 

Licensed cannabis production saw a 10.6% increase from March 2024 to March 2025 and a 1.2% increase from February 2025 to March 2025, while the unlicensed sector saw a 4.5% and 0.2% decrease, respectively. 

Licensed cannabis stores saw a 4.7% year-over-year increase from March 2024 to March 2025 but a 0.2% decrease from February 2025 to March 2025. Unlicensed cannabis stores saw a 4.4% and 0.1% decrease over the same time periods. 

Household final consumption expenditure on cannabis in Q1 2025 was $11.7 billion. To compare, alcohol accounted for $23.2 billion, and tobacco for $11.9 billion.

The combined revenue, expenditure and budgetary balance of provincial and territorial administration from cannabis taxes and cannabis trading profits was $1.5 billion in Q1 2025, down from $1.032 billion in Q4 2024 but up from $868 billion in Q1 2024.

There are currently around 4,000 licensed cannabis stores in Canada.

Related Articles

Canada’s cannabis sector contributes $9.1 billion to GDP in first three months of 2025

June 2, 2025

Ontario sold more than $2.15 billion worth of cannabis in 2024

May 26, 2025

Retail cannabis sales bounce back in March

June 9, 2025