Canada’s cannabis market may have hit a plateau

Research and consultancy company Brightfield Group pointed to changes in the consumer landscape for cannabis in Canada in a new report, saying that users over 30 years of age are making up a growing majority of consumers.

The report found that among the habitual users, the demand is strong for high-THC products, with 48 per cent of that group using at least once a day while 28 per cent consume more than one time a day.

But it was the count on new users that may prove to be the most telling for the industry, with Brightfield finding that 25 per cent of new users — those who have consumed cannabis for less than two years — were using dried flower and 34 per cent consumed edibles.

“In terms of potential new consumer growth that may actually trickle down a little bit,” said David George-Cosh, cannabis market reporter for BNN, speaking on Friday.

For years leading up to the start of legalized cannabis in Canada in 2018, the question on everyone’s mind was how big a legal and regulated pot industry would turn out to be.

Supply constraints were an issue in the early days, followed later by a glut of cannabis as the retail rollout across the country proved more slow-moving and caught up in red tape than earlier anticipated, especially in Ontario, the country’s most populous province.

The cannabis sector was at a peak as far as investor interest was concerned right around Canada’s legalization date in October, 2018.

George-Cosh says there’s a potential for the Canadian cannabis market to reach a new high in 2021, growing both in overall sales and number of retail outlets opened.

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