One of the many legal changes that took place on Oct. 17, 2018, has finally permitted adults across Canada to grow up to four cannabis plants per household, with the exception of those residing in Manitoba and Quebec.
A huge portion of the hype surrounding the legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada was somehow outstripped by a number of businesses watching out for the hottest trends of the newly founded pot industry. But what about cannabis seeds sales? Experts suggested that non-medical cannabis seeds sales will outperform medical cannabis seeds sales, yet they weren’t prepared with any firm projected numbers in terms of revenue for business owners.
When the Government of Canada published the first market data for cannabis seeds sales for the 2018 – 2019 fiscal year, the results offered intriguing, crystal clear insights on whether or not non-medical marijuana seeds sales have managed to outperform medical marijuana seeds sales.
Recreational vs. Medical Cannabis Seeds Sales Canada: The Stats You Want to Know to Help your Business Grow
Gouvernement du Canada published reports on the finished inventory of federal license holders having sold a total of 9 250 seeds by the end of October 2019, the number gradually but steadily increasing to 10 265 seeds sold by November 2018, and 17 650 seeds sold by December. The peak of sales hit in December with a total of 49 840 seeds sold by federal license holders. 19 695 cannabis seeds sales were reported complete by February 2019, and 11 955 by March 2019.
Cannabis seeds data for the fiscal year 2018 – 2019 when it comes to finished inventory of provincial distributors and retailers provided by Gouvernement du Canada goes as it follows: no seeds sales completed as of October and November 2018, followed up by a rather modest increase of a total of 1104 cannabis seeds sales aggregated, and a promising x4 increase in sales of 4965 seeds sales totaled by the end of January 2019.
And then all of a sudden, a BIG BANG of marijuana seeds sales kicked in with a whopping 33 305 marijuana seeds sold by the end of February 2019 and 34 502 marijuana seeds sales completed by the end of March 2019.
When combined together, the completed medical and non-medical cannabis seeds sales for January 2019 – March 2019 can be summed up into a stable average of 50 000+ of sales totaled monthly, based on the finished inventory of both federal license holders and provincial distributors and retailers.
And while medical marijuana seeds sales accomplished were set at 9 kilograms of medical seeds sold in October vs. 36 kilograms of medical seeds sold in November, cannabis seeds for non-medical use sales totaled within the same period was zero.
Yet in December 2018, some quite promising 48 kilograms of cannabis seeds for non-medical purposes were sold, as opposed to the still far higher sales of medical seeds hitting 342 kilograms by the end of December 2018.
Then instantaneously, a mind-blowing spike in non-medical cannabis seeds sales was noted with 5072 kilograms being sold vs. 276 kilograms medical marijuana seeds sold in January 2019. The situation was quite similar in February 2019 when 4852 kilograms of non-medical cannabis seeds were sold versus 252 kilograms of medical cannabis seeds.
But if there seemed to be someplace left for a surprise when comparing medical and non-medical cannabis seeds sales, March 2019 stats were pretty clear in wiping off any doubt whether or not recreational marijuana seeds sales will manage to outperform medical cannabis seeds sales: 336 kilograms of medical seeds sold and 8562 kilograms of marijuana seeds sold for non-medical purposes.
Retailer Report that Cannabis Seeds Sales Have at Least Tripled
Back to October 2018 when the Cannabis Act came into force, business owners eyeing the cannabis seeds niche were getting ready to rake in huge profits, but the expected jump in seeds sales bumped into what is a simple and merely a normally sluggish season, as because of the autumn season, seedlings could not be planted outdoors.
Yet, on the other hand, the cannabis enthusiasts eager to get down to growing marijuana in a greenhouse or indoors were faced with the absence of a legal supply of cannabis seeds. By the time, several Canadian provinces confirmed that marijuana seeds were, indeed, not being offered for sale by licensed vendors, thus, creating sweet opportunities for the black market to flourish in order to mop up some of the great demand.
In this rather tensed and twisted fiasco, while some were busy evaluating the pros and cons of delving into trading with cannabis seeds, others were already a step ahead by selecting reliable wholesale marijuana seeds suppliers to collaborate with.
In an online publication brought to the wide public by Global and Mail Inc., Canada, Ontario-based vendor Adam stated that the gross cannabis seeds sales in October were way over $12 000, a number that happens to be double the monthly average sales for the year. What’s more, these particular sales were totaled in what is among the slowest sales period of the year. When Adam began his marijuana seeds business about four years ago, he was mostly considering this as a hobby but up-to-date, he is happy to see his hobby turn into a surprisingly highly profitable adventure.
Adam is not the only vendor who has reported greatly increased sales. Vancouver-based vendor Rebecca Ambrose told Vancouver Sun that October sales had at least been tripled.
Non-medical vs. Medical Cannabis Seeds Sales: Final Notes
For big Canadian cannabis suppliers, the cannabis seeds segment makes up for a very small part of their business. For instance, the medical cannabis seeds market was said to be less than 1% of the total sales of Canopy Growth Corp., as reported by the company’s vice-president of communications Jordan Sinclair.
Yet what this actually means is that both the non-medical, as well as the medical cannabis seeds sales potential for further growth is like a field of limitless possibilities, since it is not really the biggest companies that businesses are competing with on that note. As Mr. Sinclair highlighted, despite being a small segment for large cannabis producers, the marijuana seeds business niche can actually turn out to be “a nice opportunity for other businesses.”
Ultimately, the delay in legal seed inventory supply was not expected by many provincial distributors, yet the savvy business owners were eagerly eyeing the landscape. And so, witnessing that non-medical cannabis seeds sales did manage to outperform medical cannabis seeds sales by the first half of 2019, the best idea was none other but to ride the wave of this newly emerging opportunity for sufficient payback from partnering with wholesale seeds retailers and simply giving customers what they have been craving for: the chance to grow their very own cannabis plants from high-quality seeds, regardless of whether it comes to recreational or medicinal purposes.