Report: Global Cannabis Industry Grows 46% From 2018-2019

From 2018 to 2019, legal cannabis sales worldwide grew 46 percent to $14.7 billion, according to market researchers BDSA and Arcview Market Research. Comparatively, the sector saw a 16 percent growth in 2018.

The analysts say recreational cannabis sales in Canada, California, and Massachusetts, and medical cannabis expansions in Florida and Oklahoma represented the largest contributors to 2019’s sales growth.

Roy Bingham, BDSA co-Founder and CEO said that the industry is expected to experience a revenue growth rate of 21 percent through 2025 and that it “may soon reach a watershed moment when U.S. states, faced with a looming global recession, consider cannabis legalization as a new and potentially lucrative source of tax revenues.”

“By relaxing product restrictions and adopting more of a free-market approach to licensing, states like Florida are realizing the potential of medical cannabis sales. In addition, light regulation and low tax rates in states like Oklahoma enable citizen access, greater performance over the illicit markets and a healthy tax revenue stream for the state.” – Bingham in a statement

The analysis forecasts global cannabis sales will reach $47 billion by 2025 and U.S. legal cannabis sales would represent 72 percent of those total global sales by 2025 – down from 84 percent in 2019. BDSA projects that U.S. legal cannabis sales will increase at an 18 percent compound annual growth rate.

The report also notes that international medical cannabis spending – excluding the U.S. and Canada – jumped 64 percent in 2019, from $446 million to $732 million. The researches attribute the rise to the expansion of medical cannabis programs in the Germany, Australia, and Mexico.

The authors note that the report is “unchanged in the context” of the coronavirus pandemic.