Statistics Canada’s freshly released sales and inventory numbers for September back up the trends that experts are seeing this year, showing that while interest in dried cannabis is staying relatively steady, the public’s curiosity for extracts and edibles are guiding sales and production for the category.
In September, a total of 9,437,107 packaged units of non-medical cannabis were sold, amounting to a 2.67% increase over August. Dried cannabis made up 72% of sales, down from 73% the previous month, with edibles accounting for 15% (up from 14%), and extracts making up 13%, up from 12%.
Dried cannabis sales saw a mild increase of 0.85%, with 6,810,721 units sold nationwide. With demand for the product evening out, inventory and production have decreased by 1.3% and 2.1% respectively, as the industry seemingly reallocated their effort into edibles.
In September, 1,407,345 units of edibles were sold, 7.3% more than in August, ramping up production 33.9% and increasing the inventory by 15.9%.
Sales of extracts also increased 8.25% with 1,205,835 units purchased, spurring a 28.7% increase in production to meet demand.
Topicals saw a mild increase as well, however, until more products hit the market, this category’s share will continue to be small. Production in this category increased 30.25% in September, so new inventory may be on the shelves soon.
Predictions for 2021 say that edibles and extracts will be bigger than ever, and these numbers are beginning to show that. As consumer preferences shift and customers get better acquainted with what they want from ingestible cannabis, licensed producers should take heed sooner, rather than later, to avoid the same mountains of stale inventory that has troubled the dried cannabis category.
September 2020 Inventory of Packaged Units
Total: 9,437,107
Dried Cannabis: 6,810,721
Edibles: 1,407,345
Extracts: 1,205,835
Topicals: 11,003
Plants: 3
Seeds: 2,200