The Netherlands will shift to international cannabis imports for its domestic MMJ supply after a Dutch court declared Bedrocan, the country’s sole licensed cultivator and one of the oldest medical cannabis companies in the world, bankrupt on Thursday.
Bedrocan’s ongoing woes follow the termination on Jan. 1 of its contract with the state health ministry, the company’s biggest client, to supply domestic medical cannabis patients, as Dutch News reported.
The state ended the contract ahead of a new law, set to take effect next year, that will allow cannabis cultivators to directly supply pharmacies rather than going through the government.
The situation only affects Bedrocan’s Netherlands-based operations, Business of Cannabis reported. The company returned to production in Canada in 2024.
Did medical cannabis cultivator Bedrocan go bankrupt?
The state Bureau for Medical Cannabis will begin importing cannabis sometime next year but has not yet announced an alternate supplier, Dutch News reported.
While Bedrocan products have long been available abroad, current Dutch law does not allow Bedrocan to directly supply either domestic pharmacies or other cannabis markets in Europe or beyond, MMJDaily reported.
“To deliver directly to pharmacies in the Netherlands and abroad, we need a law change, but that is not expected before 2028,” a company spokesperson told MMJDaily.
The upshot was no clear market for the company’s products. The BMC will cease exporting cannabis products at the end of the year.
A creditor’s meeting for Bedrocan, which employed 70 people and had supplied the Dutch medical cannabis market for 23 years, is scheduled for Dec. 22, according to Toronto-based investment advisor Andrew Gaudry.
Other medical cannabis patients in Europe are affected, Gaudry noted. Bedrocan supplies Denmark’s medical cannabis market.
The BMC has enough cannabis supply to last through September 2027. The ministry has not yet announced a new supplier, and it’s not yet clear whether the Dutch market presents a big opportunity for producers amid a shift in the global demand picture.
What is the biggest global cannabis market?
Germany remains the world’s leading importer of cannabis after a record 203 kilograms of medical cannabis entered the country last year, according to statistics from Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) available in the MJBiz Factbook.
According to Stratcann, almost half of the cannabis imported into Germany, 93,000 kg, originated in Canada. Portugal was a distant second, supplying 55,000 kg.
The boom is poised to continue with another record year after Germany imported another 67,000 kg in the first quarter of 2026, the most recent data available, according to BfArM.
In response, Canadian LPs Aurora Cannabis and Tilray Brands are expanding European footprints – with Aurora making two purchases in the UK.
And earlier this year, Curaleaf completed a buyout of German firm Four 20 Pharma, which employs 110 people at a EU-GMP cultivation facility in Paderborn.
Curaleaf is also continuing in its attempt to effect a hostile takeover of Aurora. Analysts believe Aurora’s position to supply global markets make it an attractive takeover target.
