Cannabis Data Shows THC Potency Declining Nationwide, Despite Pricing Favoring The Opposite

By Brad Bogus, VP of Growth & Marketing at Confident Cannabis.

There are many data providers in the cannabis industry, most of which focus on consumer retail sales. Very few companies are providing insights into the wholesale cannabis market, where businesses are buying and selling from one another before the products get sold to consumers. Even less data is being shared on cannabis chemistry, particularly from the national perspective.

Confident Cannabis has the unique ability to report on both. The company provides software to help over 50% of the nation’s cannabis laboratories operate, as well as wholesale marketplace software to help businesses source B2B cannabis products. Looking at the data coming through the LIMS platform (laboratory information management system) and Wholesale (the name for the wholesale marketplace), some interesting trends were spotted over the span of 2019.

THC And CBD

To start, it appears overall THC potency is declining slightly nationwide. This is a very interesting development, particularly in an industry whose retailers continue to push high THC products to consumers. However, when the two fastest growing consumer segments in cannabis are seniors and 35-45 year old “soccer parents,” one can understand why an increasing amount of lower-potency products are coming to market.

CBD is becoming even more popular than ever, and more products are being created to focus specifically on that cannabinoid, or to balance out THC strains. This, too, is a potential factor in the slight decline of THC potency overall.

Of note, Michigan and Colorado show noticeably lower THC potency than other key states like Nevada, Oregon, Washington and California.

Wholesale Data

Wholesale, the company’s B2B marketplace offering, has been live in Oregon for 15 months, and has been collecting data on trades since that time. Due to the complimentary lab testing platform, some of this data can be correlated to the chemistry.

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When evaluating flower pricing based on THC potency in Oregon, we see the most favorable pricing still largely skewing to higher potency. There’s a 62% pricing increase for cannabis flower above 30% over cannabis in the 20-30% range. The 20-30% flower shows a 24% increase over the 15-20% range.

In Oregon, flower pricing seems to consistently fetch $50 per percentage point of THC, with the exception of the lowest range of 0-15% potency.

Which strains were in highest demand in Oregon’s wholesale market?

Well, nationwide favorites like Mimosa and Gelato take the #1 and #2 spots, tracking along with the rest of the US. The #3 spot goes to EM Dog, a much lesser known strain despite being created by B Real of Cypress Hill alongside Humboldt Seed Organization. Kush varieties took the #4 and #5 spots, as Lemon Kush and Purple Hindu Kush respectively, showing Kush still reigning in high demand.

To see these and further insights, check out the full report.