Summer Brings Improved Fortunes To Cannabis Industry
July 18, 2023Across the U.S. cannabis sales rise with the thermometer. Summer brings with it outdoor gatherings, beach days, and sunlight in the evenings, and consumer demand for cannabis climbs in response. For an industry that has been sagging of late, hampered by suffocating regulatory structures, falling wholesale prices, ongoing black market sales, and outside economic problems, the changing conditions are a welcome reprieve.
In Illinois, June’s recreational sales were the second-best in state history at $136.4 million, trailing only last December. That figure is up $10 million from the same month a year ago. Though sales were $7 million off the all-time high, June set a new record in number of items sold at nearly 3.5 million, a discrepancy that illustrates how far prices have fallen. In-state residents spent $102 million on cannabis and visitors spent $34.4 million. Illinois regulators continue to roll out more retail licenses at a steady if not blazing clip, with another 55 awarded by lottery recently to applicants who met some social equity criteria; nearly 2,700 had applied.
In Michigan, recreational sales set a new record in June at $254.2 million. The state has emerged as a cannabis powerhouse and is on track to easily surpass $2 billion in cannabis sales this year, if current trends hold. Consumers there continue to favor flower by overwhelming margins, with $119.5 million of the total coming from the category, plus $21.8 million of shake and trim. Vape cartridges sold $48.9 million of product and edibles contributed $25.5 million.
In the northeast, Massachusetts also attained a new record high last month when combined recreational and medical sales reached $151.8 million. That breaks down to $132.8 million from recreational sales and $19 million in medical sales. The recreational total for the first half of the year is $760 million, putting the state on track to reach $1.5 billion in sales this year, despite the price of a gram falling to a new low of $5.82 in June, down from $14.34 a gram in June 2020.
Connecticut’s market, still in its infancy, recorded $24 million in combined sales in June, a new record for the state. Since recreational sales began in January, six-month sales total $122 million. Recreational sales first eclipsed medical sales in May. And New Jersey’s market is poised to take off in a significant way, with nearly 100 companies in line for approval to open a retail location, compared to 34 currently open for business.—Danny Sullivan
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