The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) recently released sales data for January 2021. According to OLCC, licensed retailers generated almost $100.2 million in revenue last month, up by 3.8% from almost $96.5 million tallied in December 2020. January 2021’s sales are up by 45.9% year-over-year, from over $68.6 million in the same month in 2020.
As we covered previously, sales in Oregon’s legal cannabis market skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic to reach about $1.1 billion for 2020. Although they have leveled off since summer 2020, they remain elevated significantly compared to prior years, when year-over-year growth rates of 20% – 25% were typical.
In January, sales revenue generated by adult-use consumers rose to over $91.5 million, up 3.7% from over $88.2 million in December. Sales to patients also rose in January, to over $8.6 million, from over $8.2 million the previous month.
Month-over-month changes in retail sales revenue for the OLCC’s product categories are as follows: Revenue from sales of “usable marijuana” (the OLCC’s term for flower, trim, and pre-rolls) rose 4.3%, from over $53.4 million in December to over $55.7 million in January. Usable marijuana products made up 55.6% of all sales in January, compared to 55.4% in December.
Concentrates and extracts generated over $26.6 million in January, up 5.1% from over $25.3 million in retail revenue in December. Concentrates and extracts constituted 26.6% of sales in January, compared to 26.3% in December.
Finally, sales revenue from edibles and tinctures decreased in January, to over $10.2 million, down 1% from over $10.3 million in December. Edibles and tinctures accounted for 10.2% of total sales in January, compared to 10.7% in December.
Monthly harvest figures were down in January 2021, but still significantly outpaced those from the same month a year ago. The wet weight of all plants harvested in Oregon contracted by 12.4% from 269,920 pounds in December 2020 to 236,436 pounds in January 2021. January 2021’s harvest wet weight is up 31.8% from 179,421 pounds brought in by licensed growers in January 2020, indicating a notable expansion in non-outdoor production. It appears that booming demand in 2020 spurred a significant increase in cultivation capacity, although the proportional rise in wet weight harvested in January 2021 is still smaller than the year-over-year increase in sales revenue in that month.
Looking back to 2020 for a moment, OLCC data makes clear that the record-setting wildfires that torched some of Oregon’s most prolific cannabis-growing regions did not put a dent in harvest volume. Oregon growers cut down over 4.1 million pounds of wet plants in 2020, a new record for the state’s market and up 31% from the wet weight of 2019’s outdoor crop. The wet weight of Oregon’s indoor cannabis harvests expanded by 38.9% from 2019 to 2020, reaching over 2.1 million pounds last year. Mixed-light producers in Oregon brought in over 1.8 million pounds of wet weight in 2020, up 48.7% compared to 2019.
The harvest figures cited above help to explain the recent downturn in Oregon’s Spot Index, even in the face of elevated demand. The recent decrease in the state’s composite price is being driven primarily by falling rates for indoor and outdoor flower, while prices for greenhouse product have trended upward in recent weeks even as mixed-light growers posted record production figures in 2020.