Canada Cannabis Spot Index (CCSI)
Published June 26, 2020
*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$6.19 per gram this week, up 0.7% from last week’s C$6.15 per gram. This week’s price equates to US$2,066 per pound at the current exchange rate.
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Last week, Statistics Canada released retail sales data for April 2020. Sales have been steadily growing across Canada, and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to elevated demand as consumers stockpiled cannabis along with other essential products. In the back half of March, as work-from-home and social distancing became a reality, provincial online sales and in-store retail sales grew rapidly across the country. Those strong sales continued into at least the first half of April.
April sales settled at C$180M for the month, which was slightly below March, but higher by C$106M year-over-year.
Source: Cannabis Benchmarks, Statistics Canada
On a daily basis, April actually saw higher sales than March. While average daily sales nationwide expanded by 2.7%, they varied significantly at the provincial level. Daily sales in most major provinces, other than Ontario, increased from March to April. Quebec led the way with a 13% increase in average daily sales. Ontario saw a drop of 7%, despite adding three retail stores during the month of April. Ontario’s decrease can be attributed to the massive sales spike seen in March ahead of the COVID lockdowns. Prince Edward Island (PEI) saw a massive drop of 62%, due to stores being closed as part of the province’s coronavirus mitigation measures. PEI just permitted cannabis stores to return to normal operating hours this past week.
Below is a breakdown by province of movement in average daily sales from March to April. We expect that overall Canadian sales have continued their upward trajectory in May and June.
Source: Cannabis Benchmarks, Statistics Canada
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