The Alaska Department of Revenue (ADR) recently posted information on tax collections from the wholesale side of the state’s adult-use cannabis industry for March 2021.
The tax collection figures from ADR state that licensed growers paid a total of $2,458,045 in tax to the state in March. Receipts from the levy on cultivators increased by 9.8% month-over-month, relative to $2,238,344 collected in February.
March saw 1,977 pounds of flower change hands in the state’s market, up by 10.4% compared to the 1,790 pounds traded in February. Flower sold or transferred by Alaskan growers is taxed at a flat rate of $50 per ounce ($800 per pound).
The volume of trim traded in March was 2,061 pounds, representing an increase of 17.9% from February’s total of 1,748 pounds of trim sold by cultivators. Trim is taxed at a rate of $15 per ounce ($240 per pound) in Alaska’s market.
953 pounds of “immature/seedy/failed” plant material was transferred or traded by growers in March, down by 1.3% from 966 pounds in February. “Immature/Seedy/Failed” plant material is taxed at a rate of $25 per ounce ($400 per pound).
The volumes of trim and immature plant material that changed hands in Alaska’s wholesale cannabis market in March 2021 were up compared to those documented by state officials in 2020, particularly those of trim and immature plant material. In March 2020, 1,734 pounds of flower, 1,370 pounds of trim, and 676 pounds of immature / seedy / failed plant material were traded or transferred in Alaska’s licensed system. March 2021’s trading volume for flower is up by 14% year-over-year, that for trim is up by 50.4%, and that for immature plant material is up by 41% in the same span.
Alaska’s Spot Index rose through March, a trend that continued into April until the week ahead of 4/20. For March as a whole, Alaska’s Spot Price was up 1.3% from February’s monthly mean.