In August, a record of $189.4 million in adult-use sales statewide, but customer wallets benefitted from an all-time low price of $116.84 per ounce on average for dried flower, according to data released Sept. 14 from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency.
Through the first eight months of 2022, licensed adult-use retailers recorded $1.25 billion in statewide sales, representing a 56 percent increase from the same eight-month period last year.
An uptick in demand has been the main driver of that sales growth. For instance, in August 2022, licensed retailers sold more than 49,000 pounds of dried flower to adult-use customers statewide, representing a 186 percent increase from the 17,150 pounds sold in August 2021.
So, despite the average price per ounce at retail dropping more than 47 percent from August 2021 to August 2022, overall sales figures have increased by nearly 51 percent because more products have been sold to adults.
But with prices dipping to record lows, smaller growers told state regulators during the CRA’s quarterly meeting Sept. 14 in Lansing that they worry larger operators are in a “race to the bottom,” which is making it more and more difficult to compete for certain industry players, MLive.com reported.
One of the complaints from commenters at the meeting was in regard to special “excess grower” licenses, which allow bigger businesses to exceed a 10,000-plant limit with an extra 2,000 plants. At the end of August, there were 125 active excess grower licenses held by 25 businesses that cumulatively were able to grow a total of 250,000 extra plants at one time, according to CRA’s monthly report.
Four20Post Live explored the cultivation license issue on the show Sept. 21. You can watch at the link below: