As reporting for the third quarter of 2022 begins to roll up, it seems that there’s little that can stop the momentum that the Canadian cannabis industry continues to ride.
According to Statistics Canada data released today, cannabis sales hit an impressive $394.8 million for the month of July. It represents a significant increase of 4.46% over June’s numbers and caps an incredible 12 months of growth during which time the industry’s sales have surged by 17.8%.
Helping to bolster the industry’s growth in July is the fact that there was an increase in sales reported by every single province and territory across the country from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
Mounting Manitoba Sales
The most significant gains, however, were made in Manitoba where the province continues to capitalize on an ever-expanding market. In excess of 100 cannabis retail storefronts have opened within the province in less than two years, increasing the presence of the legal cannabis market by more than 200%. In fact, to put things into perspective, there are now far more cannabis retail locations (155) in Manitoba than there are Tim Hortons stores (100). As a result, Manitoba posted cannabis sales of $17.1 million in July, up 20.3% from the $14.2 million posted in June and representing an increase of 33.6% over last year.
Ontario’s Consistency
Ontario’s numbers remain strong, recording sales in July of $159.5 million. It signifies further growth for the province which increased its sales from the $152.7 million reported in June, representing a hike of 4.4% and an increase of more than 30% over July 2021. There are continued increases within the province that are indicative of a still-expanding market and are in near lock-step with the performance of the country as a whole. In fact, it seems in many ways that the growth of the market and the performance of the cannabis sector in Ontario mirrors that of the rest of the country as a collective. And, with even more store openings planned for the near-term, it also seems as though further increases can be expected through the first half of 2023 and beyond.
Other Provincial Retail Sales
Alberta: $69.1 million (2.92%)
British Columbia: $57.3 million (5.94%)
New Brunswick: $7.2 million (6.21%)
Newfoundland and Labrador: $5.7 million (9.96%)
Nova Scotia: $9.1 million (4.31%)
Prince Edward Island: $2.1 million (14.21%)
Quebec: $50 million (0.44%)
Saskatchewan: $15.8 million (1.52%)
Yukon: $959,000 (5.04%)
No sales figures were made available for the Northwest Territories or Nunavut.
City Sales Strong
Other than Montreal, which saw sales decline less than 1% in July, major cities in Canada reported sales increases. Gatineau’s sales jumped 4.14% and Quebec City’s rose 2.86%.
In Ontario, Toronto’s sales increased 3.9% and Ottawa saw a rise of 4.7%.
Sales in Calgary and Edmonton were higher than the provincial average, with Calgary’s sales growing 6.63% and Edmonton’s increasing 4.41%.
In contrast, Vancouver’s increase was lower than the province’s, recording 2.63% more sales than in June.
Winnipeg followed Manitoba’s trend with the largest increase of 18.58% in July.
Montreal: $26,807 million (-0.87%)
Quebec City: $4,714 million (2.86%)
Gatineau: $1,662 million (4.14%)
Toronto: $54,103 million (3.9%)
Ottawa: $17,303 million (4.71%)
Winnipeg: $10,656 million (18.58%)
Calgary: $19,518 million (6.63%)
Edmonton: $22,820 million (4.41%)
Vancouver: $18,757 million (2.63%)
Future Trends
The cannabis industry continues to surge, displaying continued month-over-month and year-over-year sales that would surely be the envy of most other industries and sectors. However, given the inordinate number of challenges and disruptions that seemed to dominate headlines throughout the month of August, from striking action in British Columbia to the threat of a data breach in Ontario – each of which resulted in temporary halts on the distribution of product to stores and customers – it will be interesting to see what the next set of data released by Statistics Canada reveals.
Image courtesy of Two Cats Cannabis
*Note: this article was edited October 5 to correct city numbers