Current Data

The U.S. Cannabis Spot Index increased 1.3% to $1,076 per pound.

In grams, the Spot price was $2.37.


BOOM-BUST CYCLES AND THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY

The boom and bust cycle is what capitalist economies are said to go through at regular intervals. Companies or even whole industries can labor under the same conditions and expect similar outcomes.

The boom phase is characterized by business expansion, hiring, increasing consumer uptake of products and services, and relatively easy terms for business expansion capital.

The peak is characterized by the end of the expansion phase while demand continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace. Money terms start to tighten. Strains are felt at the edges of the industry.

The bust in an industry might be signaled by a downturn in demand due to factors outside the industry – inflation, for instance – and / or within the industry – oversupply, for example. Businesses start taking on debt at higher interest rates than found in the boom phase. Industry aggressively seeks to lower costs – production and labor are typically the areas that draw the most scrutiny. Some businesses fail, some merge, and some struggle with sharply lower profits.

The trough is a lack of industry expansion. This is actually the beginning of a new boom cycle, but starting from lower prices, lower production costs, and when “bad news” in the industry has significantly lower effects on prices, employment, and production.

The cannabis industry has clearly been through an expansion phase with each newly legal state building out a whole new industry with hiring, consumer uptake of products, and new investment. Despite the not inconsiderable differences between state rules and regulations, a nationwide cannabis industry has been built and, to a large extent, already undergone the boom-bust cycle, in some cases more than once.

The most recent cannabis boom was supercharged by the Covid pandemic to the peak phase. The bust followed shortly thereafter as the industry made a head-spinning turn in summer 2021, when prices started crashing in legacy states and, in 2022, across newer markets. The price crash triggered a loss of jobs, shuttering of businesses, and skyrocketing financing rates, speeding up the bust.

Cannabis prices have stabilized in legacy states and that’s a big clue the market is in the trough phase – the beginning of a new boom where parts of the cannabis economy seem to have stalled out as far as expansion goes, but are still chugging along with the remaining players running leaner operations with lower payrolls and more efficient production. Investors will soon show up ready to invest in a more efficient industry with massive growth potential. While the industry is not going to come slingshotting out of the trough, the groundwork is in place for a new cannabis boom to begin the cycle over again.

Cannabis Benchmarks U.S. Spot Weighted Average Prices May 26, 2023

June 2023 Implied Forward assessed up $15 to $1,075 per pound.

At $1,075 per pound, the June 2023 Implied Forward represents a discount of 0.1% relative to the current U.S. Spot Price of $1,076 per pound.

Cannabis Benchmarks U.S Forward Price Curve May 26, 2023

This Week’s

PREMIUM Report Headlines:

New York

Losing Faith in State Officials, Lawyer Proposes “Transitional Licenses” – Interview

California

Q1 2023 Taxable Cannabis Sales Fall 7%

New Jersey

First 2 Adult Use-Only Retailers Open Doors

Minnesota

Minnesota to be 23rd State to Legalize Adult Use Cannabis