Canada Cannabis Spot Index (CCSI)
Published April 5, 2019
The CCSI remained essentially flat this week at C$6.94 per gram, when compared to last week’s C$6.96 per gram. The price range has been relatively steady over the past six weeks, with only a $C0.18 difference between the low and high extremes observed in that span. This week’s price of C$6.94 per gram equates to US$2,359 per pound at current exchange rates.
According to Statistics Canada, 15.4% of the Canadian population above the age of 15 reported using cannabis, which works out to approximately 4.63 million people across Canada. Also from the Government of Canada, we are able to access nationwide retail sales figures. From the latest published data, we can see that C$53.38M in revenue was generated in the month of January. January’s sales are down by C$2.5M, or 4.5%, from those of December 2018.
When we merged the January sales data with the reported number of users, we are able to estimate the average spend per person. These calculations tell a very interesting story about the usage in each province, and have implications for the development of the legal market across the country.
British Columbia, known colloquially to be the cannabis capital of Canada, has a uniquely low spend per person. This implies that the lack of product inventory or higher prices at legal retail outlets have resulted in much of the population turning to the illicit market for their supply.
Ontario, the largest province with almost 38% of the Canadian population, has sales figures lower than Quebec and Alberta. The reason cannabis users have been spending less on legal cannabis could be due to the exclusively online sales format that prevailed until April 1st of this year. With the recent opening of 10 brick-and-mortar locations in Ontario and 15 more by the end of this month, we expect sales figures and spend per person to increase significantly.
Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, Alberta, and New Brunswick each has a calculated spend of approximately C$25/person during January. Based on our price index, this equates to approximately 2.5 grams of usage per month.
