BC cannabis prices continue to drop, while wholesale sales are up year-over-year according to a new BC Cannabis Wholesale Quarterly Sales Report for Q3 2023 (October, November, and December).
Report Highlights
In Q3, wholesale sales were up 20.5% to $136,679,594 from $113,414,081 in Q3 2022 with 33% more wholesale grams of cannabis sold compared to the prior year.
Cannabis prices are still dropping in the province. In Q3, the price of all cannabis dropped by 9.4% to $3.99 per gram compared to $4.40 per gram in Q3 2022. This is a smaller drop than last quarter; in Q2 2023, the price of all cannabis dropped by 11.7% to $4.05 per gram.
Similarly, the price of dried flower dropped 7.5% to $3.32 per gram compared to $3.58 per gram in Q3 2022. This is comparable to last quarter; the price of dried flower dropped to $3.33 in Q2 2023.
Store growth also continues to slow, increasing by 6.4% in Q3 compared to 8.4% in Q2 and 10.2% in Q1. The total store count in BC is 496 stores.
The BC provincial government continues to review if it will increase the 8-store retail cap.
Dried Flower Sales Trends
Similar to last quarter, 3.5-gram and 28-gram SKUs dominated dried flower sales. Sales in the 3.5-gram category were $10,557,921, down 21.7% from 2022. Sales in the 28-gram category were $20,332,623, up 11.0% from 2022.
The 14-15-gram SKUs continued to see growth this quarter. Sales were up 45.6% from 2022 to $6,313,157. The most notable growth was in the 7-gram category with sales up 81.2% from Q3 2022 to $6,226,134.
Product Category Sales
Inhalable extracts and flower dominated Q3 sales, but inhalable extracts continue to increase their gap over flower sales. Sales in the category were up 40.5% from Q3 2022 to $47,854,009; while flower sales were up 9.0% from 2022 to $43,833,642.
With the exception of ingestible extracts, all categories saw an increase in year-over-year sales. The pre-roll category had the third highest sales in Q3 with sales up 19.8% to $29,509,765. Beverage sales increased 21.2%, edibles sales increased 18.9%, seeds sales increased 9.5%, and topicals sales increased 9.4%. Seed sales seem to be rebounding after experiencing a drop in sales over the last few quarters.
Sales Mix by Product Category
Carbonated drinks clearly dominated the beverages category with sales up 24.8% since Q3 2022 to $1,969,362. Sales in dry tea and coffee have increased 127.1% since 2022, while drink mix, non-carbonated drinks, and other beverages have all seen varying drops.
Chews are the clear winner in the edibles category with sales up 23.2% to $6,840,571. While chocolate sales dropped 15.1% in Q3, it had the second highest sales at $634,471. Hard candy and other edibles have seen massive growth with sales up 1,580.3% and 5,781.5%, respectively, since Q3 2022.
Indica dominated the flower category with sales up 4.5% to $21,780,231. This was followed by sativa with sales of $12,976,544 and hybrid with sales of $8,597,412 in Q3. All sub-categories saw increases in year-over-year sales.
Capsules and pills had the highest sales in the ingestible extracts category at $2,193,714, up 27.2% from Q3 2022; this was closely followed by oils and tinctures at $2,066,463. Oils and tinctures and other ingestibles both saw drops in year-over-year sales.
Cartridges and other inhalables had the strongest sales in the inhalable extracts category at $23,153,478 and $18,369,471, respectively. All sub-categories saw increases in year-over-year sales except wax, which dropped 73.8% from Q3 2022.
Variety pack sales were up 170.3% and blend sales up 83.1% in the pre-roll category but indica and sativa had the highest sales at $10,861,029 and $10,440,848, respectively.
Bath product sales overtook creams and lotions in the topicals category hitting $333,396, up 50.6% from Q3 2022. Sales for creams and lotions dropped 26.7% while sales for other topicals were down 46.1%.
Direct Delivery Program Sales
The report also includes sales from the LDB’s Direct Delivery Program, which launched in August 2022.
There were 702,478 grams of cannabis sold through direct delivery in Q3, up 94.0% from Q3 2022, totalling $3,167,456.
The average price per gram of all cannabis was $4.51, down from $4.60 last quarter and $7.11 in Q3 2022. The price per gram of dried flower dropped to $3.93, down from $4.00 last quarter and $6.45 in Q3 2022.