With media reporting oversupply challenges in the Canadian cannabis industry, can producers turn to export markets to sell their inventory? The answer might be yes. As countries around the world legalize cannabis, new opportunities are emerging for producers in Canada.
Canadian companies have been exporting cannabis for several years already. In fact, back in June 2020, MJBizDaily published a two-part article on Canada’s export of medical cannabis during 2019. Part 1 was titled, “Canada exported record amount of dried cannabis in 2019…” Part 2 reported, “Canadian exports of medical cannabis oil jumped fivefold in 2019.”
Canadian Regulatory Review reported in September of 2020 that the Canadian government had even become supportive of cannabis exports. “On the export side, and to further bolster trade, as of January 2020, the federal government through Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service extended trade commissioner services for Canadian cannabis companies exporting cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.”
A few months after that article, in April 2021, Prohibition Partners released a report called “Revealed: The Canadian Cannabis Export Market for 2020.” The report notes that the largest export markets for Canada at the time were Germany, Australia, Israel and the United Kingdom. “…new data shows a huge increase in the exports of cannabis from the country in 2020, as well as a changing network of countries that are importing from established producers in Canada.”
In May of that same year, Business of Cannabis took “A look at Canadian cannabis exports,” noting that “Dried cannabis flower and cannabis oil exports more than doubled in 2020, while imports dropped to virtually zero…”
An article titled, “How Canada’s Oversupply of Cannabis Is an Export Opportunity,” was published in October of 2022 by Canadian Cannabis Exchange. “As the demand for cannabis legalization increases internationally, Canada has the opportunity to become the world leader in cannabis exports… The European Union is proving to be a lucrative market for Canadian exports.”
To read the full articles quoted here, visit the following links:
- https://mjbizdaily.com/canada-exported-record-amount-of-dried-cannabis-in-2019/
- https://mjbizdaily.com/canadian-exports-of-medical-cannabis-oil-jumped-fivefold-in-2019/
- https://www.canadaregulatoryreview.com/international-trade-in-cannabis-international-and-domestic-regulatory-developments/
- https://prohibitionpartners.com/2021/04/30/revealed-the-canadian-cannabis-export-market-for-2020/
- https://businessofcannabis.com/a-look-at-canadian-cannabis-exports/
- https://canadiancannabisx.com/how-canadas-oversupply-of-cannabis-is-an-export-opportunity/