31 Billion Dollars ✅
31 Billion Dollars ✅
As more and more nations and states legalize cannabis, the market is expanding...
In Today’s Issue:
→ Record Sales For 2021. 🔮
→ Cannabis Media M&A. 💻
→ Bankrolling Cannabis. 💸
31 Billion USD Cannabis Sales
A new report highlights the explosive growth in cannabis sales globally…
Global cannabis sales are reaching record highs.
With several states already having legalized cannabis in 2021, total cannabis sales are surging.
BDSA predicts global cannabis sales will eclipse $31 billion USD this year.
This marks a 41% increase vs the total cannabis sales in 2020.
The United States…
Total cannabis sales in the U.S are on track to surpass $24 billion USD in 2021 — marking a 38% increase vs 2020’s sales.
In established markets such as California, total cannabis sales have increased 25% in the first half of 2021 versus 2020.
In new markets such as Illinois and Massachusetts total cannabis sales have increased over 2x in the first half of 2021 versus 2020.
“New markets, both medical and adult-use, are developing at a faster pace than observed in the past, and states are transitioning from medical only to fully legal in a shorter time frame.”
With a combined population of over 32.2 million people, several states are on track to commence selling cannabis for adult-use purposes.
→ Virginia: 8.53 million people.
→ New York: 8.42 million people.
→ South Dakota: 884,659 people.
→ New Jersey: 8.88 million people.
→ New Mexico: 2.09 million people.
→ Connecticut: 3.56 million people.
In Canada & beyond…
In Canada, they predict sales will total $4 billion USD in 2021, reaching $6.7 billion USD by 2026.
→ In May sales reached $247 million.
→ In June sales reached $251 million.
→ In July sales reached $267 million.
BDSA estimates that Ontario, the largest cannabis market in Canada with a population of 14.57 million people will lead this charge — with 2021 sales on track to exceed 2020 sales by over 85%.
International…
With medical sales growing, international sales will reach close to $1.7 billion USD in 2021 — on track to reach $7.9 billion USD by 2026.
These international sales will largely be driven by the medical cannabis markets in Europe such as Germany, and the U.K with Mexico also on track to establish an adult-use cannabis market.
So far, Mexico’s Supreme Court has decriminalized cannabis nationwide for adults, however, legal products are still unavailable to purchase.
Looking forward…
The analysts predict global sales will reach $62.1 billion by 2026, representing a compound annual growth rate of more than 15%.
They predict over 76% of these sales will occur in the U.S. where sales are estimated to surpass $47.6 billion by 2026.
Our Take
Cannabis is currently federally legal for adult-use purposes in just 2 of the 190 nations.
The cannabis industry in North America is growing very quickly, however, on a global basis cannabis is really just getting started.
Cannabis Media M&A Continues
Another media company is acquired in cannabis…
One of the key terms to describe the cannabis industry in 2021 is consolidation.
In the first 6 months of this year, billions of dollars have been spent as cannabis producers seek to acquire each other — as they bid to become the largest cannabis producers in the world.
Expanding to media…
A very large percentage of these dollars have so far been spent acquiring cannabis brands and cannabis producers, however, an emerging trend we are watching is M&A in cannabis media.
→ At the beginning of August, Prohibition Partners acquired the B2B cannabis industry publication Business of Cannabis.
→ At the end of August, Fire&Flower announced its plans to acquire the B2C media company Pot Guide for $8.5 million USD.
→ This week, Crain announced its acquisition of Green Market Report.
What’s fueling this?
As more & more nations legalize cannabis — there’s an ever-increasing level of attention being paid to the cannabis industry.
With this, established B2B publications such as Crain Communication who has over 650 employees are simply seeking to add cannabis to the existing portfolio of industries they cover.
With these larger players entering the industry, smaller companies can join forces to compete with these larger companies.
Fire&Flower is also aggressively acquiring media assets such that they can in turn leverage these assets to drive customers to its stores.
Our Take
As the level of interest in cannabis continues to grow there’s going to be more attention paid to publications covering both cannabis as a product, and cannabis as an industry.
With this being the case, I foresee a continuation of this emerging trend as cannabis media companies choose to join forces with competitors — or simply become part of a bigger portfolio of media assets.
The Banks Working With Cannabis
A new report highlights the list of banks willing to work with cannabis companies…
As politicians debate granting U.S cannabis companies full permission to work with banks, a new report reveals an increasing number of banks are already working with cannabis companies.
What the report reveals…
As of the 30th of June 2021, there were 706 financial institutions that had filed reports stating they were actively serving cannabis clients.
This marks a small increase from the 699 financial institutions working with cannabis companies at the beginning of this year.
Right now certain politicians in the U.S are pushing for legislative reform such that banks can work with cannabis companies without fear of consequences.
Rising and falling…
2020 saw a significant drop in the number of banks and credit unions working with cannabis companies from 2019, however, this figure has been steadily climbing in 2021.
One potential explanation for this in 2020 is that the agency stopped including hemp-only (CBD) businesses in its quarterly reports since the crop was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.
Looking ahead…
A growing list of politicians are working in unison to prevent lawmakers from passing cannabis banking reform in the U.S.
Instead of accepting this milestone, these political leaders have maintained their position that prioritizing banking reform over social justice when it comes to cannabis is simply unacceptable.
“I will lay myself down” to block any other senators who seek to pass marijuana banking legislation before the body approves comprehensive cannabis reform. — Cory Brooks.
Although this language doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that the SAFE banking ACT will receive the required support to become law, the chief sponsor of the SAFE Banking Act remains optimistic.
“I think the fifth time is the charm”
Our Take
It’s interesting to see how many banks are still willing to work with cannabis companies, despite the potential consequences they face.
With the Democratic party conflicted as to which cannabis regulations should precede the other — these banks are offering cannabis companies a much-needed service in the interim.
For more like this, subscribe to Four PM today to receive the next edition:
If you gained value from this edition of Four PM, share it with your favorite cannabis professionals. 🌎