*The provincial excise taxes vary. Cannabis Benchmarks estimates the population weighted average excise tax for Canada.

**CCSI is inclusive of the estimated Federal & Provincial cannabis excise taxes..

The CCSI was assessed at C$6.74 per gram this week, down 3% from last week’s C$6.94 per gram. This week’s price equates to US$2,331 per pound at the current exchange rate.

This week we review Cannabis Benchmarks® estimate of monthly cannabis supply coming to market with the release of Health Canada’s August demand and stored inventory data. Our estimates of supply show that cannabis market volumes peaked in June with 62,671 kg generated by licensed producers (LPs) across Canada. Since then the quantity of cannabis has declined by 15.6% to 52,913 kg in August. 

Our expectation is that Canadian cannabis supply will rise above the June peak in November with outdoor product being harvested in September and early October at higher latitudes. Finished product can take six weeks to reach the marketplace after harvests are cut down, as the product is trimmed, dried, tested, and packaged.

Source: Cannabis Benchmarks, Health Canada

We have routinely reported that current supply levels have been outpacing legal market consumption. The build out of production capacity by LPs has caused a severe oversupply, with roughly 80% of cannabis users still turning to the illicit market due to lower prices, higher quality product, and more convenient access. For the month of August, we analyzed the disposition of the 52,913 kg of supply generated by LPs. Only 3% was consumed by medical patients, while 24% was consumed by recreational consumers. The remaining roughly 73%, or 38,626 kg, went into inventory as either finished or unfinished goods across the country.

Source: Cannabis Benchmarks, Health Canada