News

$17 billion and growing

Published on January 15, 2019 by David Wylie

Pot is a growing business.

Global cannabis sales are expected to hit nearly $17 billion in 2019.

The prediction is made in a new report by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics that says cannabis sales will reach over $31 billion in 2022.

Canadians spent $1.6 billion on legal weed in 2018 – that’s double the amount spent on legal medical cannabis in 2017.

And since we were only legal in Canada for less than three months, expect the number of legal sales to skyrocket in 2019.

“The gradual legalization around the world of a plant which humans have been happily consuming for millennia is creating one of the largest industry-growth phenomena in history,” says Tom Adams, managing director and principal analyst at BDS Analytics.

Spending on cannabis worldwide in 2018 was over $12 billion. That’s a big spike from $9.5 billion in 2017 – growth of 28 percent.

Troy Dayton, CEO of The Arcview Group, said two of the world’s three largest legal medical markets – California and Canada – now allow all adult consumers to buy cannabis.

Investment, valuation, and a gold rush

• Canadian licensed producers (LPs) continue to attract huge investment from major players in other consumer products categories – including beverage giant’s Constellation Brands’ $4-billion August investment in Canopy Growth, and tobacco-market leader Altria buying a 45% stake in Cronos in December valued at $1.8 billion.
• The valuation explosion in Canada, which saw five of the country’s licensed producers reach a combined market capitalization of nearly $20 billion as 2018 came to a close.
• A gold rush of U.S. multi-state operators going public on the Canadian Securities Exchange, with five operators reaching valuations above $100 million and a combined market cap of $5.5 billion.