The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition highlights how the global cannabis industry is heading into a progressive period marked by widespread legalisation, innovation and considerable growth.
As highlighted in the report, Prohibition Partners finds combined global sales of CBD, medical and adult-use cannabis topped US$37.4 billion in 2021, and could rise to US$102 billion by 2026.
Adult-use markets in the US and Canada remain the most important regions in the world for cannabis sales, but international markets including Germany, Israel and Australia will develop considerably over the next five years.
While the COVID-19 lockdown period saw record-breaking sales of cannabis in multiple regions, legislative developments have been interrupted, bringing delays in the development of cannabis market value across the globe.
The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition provides an overview of the development of cannabis markets at the international level, and considers how they might develop in the near future. It also covers some of the most interesting and pertinent global trends in the industry.
The report is split into four key sections:
- An overview of the major trends in legalisation and market development across the globe,
- An overview of Prohibition Partners’ global market sizing estimates for the next five years,
- A review of key region-specific trends,
- Interviews with industry experts in key areas of the global market
Legalisation Trends
As of late 2021 only Uruguay, Canada and a handful of states in the US have fully legalised cannabis for adult-use, but these will be joined by several international markets soon. Mexico and Israel are primed for full legalisation of adult-use cannabis in 2022, while the Netherlands and Switzerland are preparing for their legal pilot trials.
The pro-cannabis sentiment of the ruling German parties under the new coalition has many industry stakeholders hopeful that Germany will legalise within this legislative period.
Medical cannabis and CBD are now legal, in some form, across most of North America, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), as well as Latin America; with Africa and Asia-Pacific lagging behind.
Market Realities
The large US multi-state-operators now rival the Canadian players for their size, and for the most part, exceed them in immediate financial performance.
This year, 2021, has been a significant one for cannabis Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) for example; the acquisition of GW Pharmaceuticals by Jazz Pharmaceuticals for US$7.2 billion on 2 May, the merging of Aphria and Tilray, and the recent acquisition of Harvest Health and Recreation by Trulieve for US$ 2.2 billion.
Investor sentiment was shaken during the lockdown of 2020, and while stock prices are down, capital raises are now on the rise once again.
Global Supply Chain
The balance of cannabis production is shifting away from the traditional strongholds of Canada and the Netherlands, with exports coming online from regions with warmer climates, cheaper land and labour; such as Latin America, the Mediterranean and Africa.
The most important import markets, including Germany and Israel, are currently engaging in domestic cultivation but it is yet to be seen how much future demand will be covered by this.
Ancillary services such as technology, professional services, extraction, distribution, packaging and construction are becoming increasingly important, with multi-billion dollar valuations for several cannabis technology companies.
A New Era?
It is all very much still to play for in the cannabis industry, and the real winners of the market may be yet to emerge, the formats which will be most popular are not yet set in stone, the regions which dominate production and those which are consuming the most are yet to be set in stone.
The industry is poised for a very exciting 2022, with the spread of legalisation being followed by strong industry growth. Large benefits will be felt across justice, public health and the global economy.
Data Packages
In addition to the free-to-read version of The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition, we are offering two premium data packages:
Package 1 – Market Sizing*
- Includes Prohibition Partners’ proprietary market sizing data.
- Country-level breakdown of the global market sizing for cannabis markets – including medical, adult-use and CBD – up until 2026.
Package 2 – Market Sizing and Real World Data*
- The most comprehensive collection of real-world data available anywhere.
- Contains official data from governments and health authorities globally.
- State/country-level metrics such as the number of patients, source of product, sales by product format – and more.
*A premium version of The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition will be provided as part of both packages. This premium version will include a Market Sizing section with detailed regional overviews and analyses.
The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition is sponsored by Always Pure Organics, Cantourage, Linnea, White Lion Holdings, CBDepot.eu and Village Farms. Without their support, the curation and release of this report wouldn’t have been possible.
