The global hemp industry has vast potential despite its current fragmented state, according to a new paper that looks at the status of the industry, offering key insights for investors, stakeholders, and policymakers aiming to harness the crop’s transformative potential in the years ahead.
Hemp SWOT: Challenges and Chances for Hemp: 2025, looks at the industry’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to give a sober – and sometimes sobering – status report.
With the potential to emerge as a sustainable industrial powerhouse, hemp’s myriad applications in textiles, construction, bioplastics, and carbon sequestration, position the crop as a linchpin for addressing pressing environmental challenges, the report observes. However, the path to realizing this potential is fraught with hurdles, from regulatory inconsistencies to the lack of a cohesive global strategy, it cautions.
The paper is from Canna Markets Group (CMG) of the U.S., and Poland-based HempToday. It is sponsored by Green Wave, a nonprofit that promotes environmental awareness and sustainability through community-focused initiatives and other creative projects.
‘Inflection point’
Joseph Carringer, Lead Strategist and Project Manager at CMG and the report’s primary author, said it is targeted at investors, hemp stakeholders and decision makers in “destination industries – those in which hemp has vast potential.”
Carringer said the hemp industry sits at a sharp “inflection point.”
“Hemp has the ability to redefine sustainability across industries, but the lack of vertical integration and clear regulatory frameworks is stifling innovation and investment,” he said
A theme running throughout the report is the industry’s fragmented supply chain, which hinders scalability and market adaptation. “Without cohesive planning and investment in infrastructure, we risk leaving this industry’s immense potential untapped. Collaboration among farmers, processors, and manufacturers is not just beneficial – it’s essential,” Carringer said.
Read more at Hemp Today