Canadian cannabis sales remained relatively stable in April after rebounding in March. Sales were up 1.31% from the prior month to $411.66 million, but when adjusting for the shorter month, cannabis sales actually increased by 4.7%.
Most provinces saw a small drop or minimal change in sales with the exception of British Columbia. The westernmost province drove April sales with an 8.66% increase from the prior month to $68.51 million. BC also saw the highest increase of any Canadian province from April 2022 to April 2023 with sales increasing almost 30%. Overall Canadian sales increased 10.27% from April 2022 to April 2023.
Prairies
Manitoba saw a minor drop in April sales, down 1.07% from the prior month to $15.93 million. Sales in Winnipeg also dropped by 0.66% to $9.68 million. The province recently announced it will be returning approximately $18 million in fees paid by cannabis retailers over the past two years, after the Manitoba Conservative Government repealed the 6% Social Responsibility Fee on gross retail cannabis revenues.
Alberta and Saskatchewan saw small increases.
Alberta sales were up 0.35% from the prior month to $72.60 million, a stark contrast to its strong March. Alberta had the second highest sales in Canada in March hitting $72.35 million. Calgary and Edmonton saw slightly smaller increases with sales up 1.35% to $20.26 million and 1.04% to $24.54 million, respectively in April.
Saskatchewan sales were up 1.30% to $18.95 million in April. Following BC, this province saw the highest annual increase with sales up 25.35% from April 2022 to April 2023.
Ontario
Sales in Canada’s largest province saw a small increase of 1.5% in April to $161.22 million – once again posting the highest sales in the country.
Sales in Ottawa saw a miniscule drop, down 0.01% from the prior month to $14.51 million. Sales in Toronto declined 1.51% to $53.21 million.
Quebec
Quebec saw the biggest drop in sales in April, down 4.15% from the prior month to $48.63 million. Comparatively, in March, it saw the biggest increase in sales second to the Yukon.
Quebec was also the only province to see a decline in sales from April 2022 to April 2023 down 3.05%, which is likely due to the ongoing strike at SQDC.
Sales in Montreal, Quebec, and Gatineau were also down in April. Gatineau saw the biggest decline in annual sales from April 2022 to April 2023 out of all provinces and major Canadian cities at 36.52%.
The Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) recently reported its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 25, 2023, showing the first plateau in growth in four years. The SQDC says its growth plateau is largely due to the labour dispute that has been ongoing since the beginning of the fiscal year and affects a quarter of the company’s stores.
British Columbia
BC sales were up 8.66% to $68.51 million in April following a strong March. Vancouver saw the biggest increase in sales out of all provinces and major Canadian cities at 26.19% to $25.88 million in April. Sales have increased in Vancouver over 42% from April 2022 to April 2023, once against the highest of all the provinces and major cities.
Maritimes
The Maritimes saw declining sales across the board in April.
Sales in Newfoundland and Labrador were down 3.72% from the prior month to $6.01 million. On an annual basis, Newfoundland has seen a notable increase with sales up 15.31% from April 2022 to April 2023. Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation recently released its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 performance ending April 1, 2023, showing a 22.3% increase in cannabis sales over Q4 of the prior year.
Sales in Prince Edward Island dropped 2.1% to $1.87 million in April. Sales in Nova Scotia dropped 3.93% to $9.11 million, while sales in New Brunswick went down 1.74% to $6.79 million.
New Brunswick saw its first private cannabis store open this month, after Cannabis NB shared its struggles to capture more of the illicit market.
Provincial Sales (x1,000)
Canada: $411,659 (1.31%)
Newfoundland & Labrador: $6,010 (-3.72%)
Prince Edward Island: $1,868 (-2.10%)
Nova Scotia: $9,108 (-3.93%)
New Brunswick: $6,793 (-1.74%)
Quebec: $48,629 (-4.15%)
Montreal: $26,487 (-4.02%)
Quebec City: $4,427 (-4.84%)
Gatineau: $1,163 (-8.50%)
Ontario: $161,217 (1.50%)
Toronto: $53,214 (1.51%)
Ottawa: $14,508 (1.50%)
Manitoba: $15,928 (-1.07%)
Winnipeg: $9,677 (-0.66%)
Saskatchewan: $18,952 (1.30%)
Alberta: $72,599 (0.35%)
Calgary: $20,257 (1.35%)
Edmonton: $24,536 (1.04%)
British Columbia: $68,508 (8.66%)
Vancouver: $25,882 (26.19%)
Yukon: $925 (0%)
Source: Statistics Canada