The numbers are in! Oregonians bought and consumed $37 million worth of cannabis products in the month of March alone.
This year is proving to be the biggest year for cannabis in Oregon. Data from BDS Analytics‘ GreenEdge Retail Sales Tracking Data shows The Beaver State has already sold 24% more cannabis than this time last year, rounding out at $101 million worth of cannabis sales in the first quarter of 2017. Despite slowing retail sales nationwide, which fell by 0.2% in March according to the US Census Bureau, cannabis sales are growing at an accelerating rate. The sales of cannabis vape pens alone grew 441% in Oregon over the previous year.
Oregon’s medical marijuana market accounted for nearly 22% of the total $37 million sales.
So what were Oregonians spending their dough on?
No surprise here that dried bulk flower leads the way at $19.9 million, while an additional $1.9 million in pre-rolled joints were sold.
Concentrates as a whole brought in $7.7 million of revenue, with vape pens contributing to the majority of those sales at $4.9 million. Breaking it down further, $1.2 million worth of shatter, $416,000 worth of oils, $190,000 worth of live resin, and $110,000 worth of wax was sold throughout Oregon in the month of March.
Due to complications processors have faced getting established in the marketplace over the last year, I expect these numbers to increase significantly over the next few months as more concentrate products make it to retail.
While the options for marijuana-infused edibles have been limited as processors have slowly been getting licensed and settled into the market, the category still sold $4.7 million worth of products in a short period of time. Compared to February, consumers in March purchased 43% more marijuana-infused edibles. Candy led the way at $2 million with chocolates close behind at $1.5 million. The remaining subcategories accounted for $1.2 million: $754,000 of tinctures, $285,000 of infused foods, $92,000 of pills, and $92,000 worth of infused beverages.
Topicals, one of the best “first-time” cannabis products, accounted for $489,000 of the month’s total sales — possibly due to the lack of topical producers in the market.
Overall, the market is experiencing massive growth in sales of all categories but concentrates and edibles are particularly booming as more Oregon producers get established.
As more stats emerge, we’ll keep you up-to-date and informed on the most popular and fastest growing products in Oregon’s cannabis market.
credit:marijuana.com