The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) published adult-use sales figures for May earlier this week. In a June 11 press release, IDFPR announced that adult-use cannabis retailers in the state generated over $44.3 million in gross revenue in May. May’s sales are up 18.9% from April’s over $37.2 million. The month-over-month uptick is a stark departure from rises of less than 4% recorded in prior months. May’s adult-use sales also represent a new record for that sector of the market in Illinois, and are the first time that revenue has topped the total seen in January, when the state’s recreational market first opened.
Including May’s medical cannabis sales of about $32 million, analyzed in last week’s report, total retail cannabis revenues in Illinois reached over $76.3 million last month, a record high for the state.
Illinois remained under a stay-at-home order for essentially all of May. Although it was a slightly relaxed version of the state’s initial order, issued in late March, operational requirements for and access to cannabis retailers did not change substantively from April to May.
Sales to out-of-state customers also saw a boost in May, even as COVID-related restrictions remained in place. According to IDFPR, residents from states other than Illinois were responsible for 30% of sales in May, or over $10.2 million of the total. In April, out-of-state shoppers accounted for 20% of the total revenue tallied, down from 25% in March. The proportion of sales to out-of-state residents in May is beginning to approach the 36% mark documented in February, prior to the pandemic.
Average daily adult-use sales increased month-over-month for the second straight month, and by a significant margin compared to the uptick seen in April. Daily sales figures for the trailing three months are shown in the table below.
Average Daily Adult-Use Sales (Retail) – Trailing 3 Months
April’s average daily sales figures also exceeded January’s, the month that Illinois’ adult-use market opened, when customers spent over $1.26 million daily, on average. January’s sales were inflated due to consumer enthusiasm over the new market, while tight supply has led to sales trending downward until April. Rising sales suggest that supply is loosening and that consumers continue to patronize cannabis retailers during the pandemic, with such stores remaining open as essential businesses in the state.
The IDFPR’s latest update also includes the number of “items” sold, data that was omitted from reports for some prior months. An item can represent a single product of any type, be it flower, concentrate, or edible.
Items Sold & Average Price per Item (Retail) – Trailing 3 Months
As the table shows, the mean price per item decreased from April to May but remained elevated compared to March. Reported wholesale flower prices in Illinois’ adult-use market were also up in May. From April to May, monthly average rates for flower in the state’s adult-use sector rose by 16.4%. The state’s Spot Index, which includes both medical and adult-use wholesale transactions, also climbed by 7.9% in the same span.
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