Marijuana inventories rise in Canada, but market imbalances persist

Canadian stockpiles of cannabis in dried and oil form continued to climb to record levels in March, but retailers nationwide struggled to maintain consistent inventory of in-demand products.

Finished inventory of dried marijuana held by federal license holders, provincial distributors and retailers hit a record 30,800 kilograms (67,902 pounds) in March, up significantly from the 23,200 kilograms stocked the previous month, according to Health Canada data.

Finished inventory is stock that is packaged, labeled and ready for sale.

Sale-ready inventory of cannabis oil rose slightly, from 59,500 liters (15,718 gallons) in February to 62,100 liters in March.

Separate data from Statistics Canada showed that sales of adult-use marijuana enjoyed a bump in March, rising to 60 million Canadian dollars ($44.5 million) from CA$51 million the previous month.

However, some retailers continued to struggle to stock consistent inventory of the types of cannabis products sought by consumers.

Hobo Recreational Cannabis Store in Ottawa, for example, slashed its hours because of shortages.

The Health Canada data also provided a glimpse into the first few months of seeds and clones sales for adult- use.

Sales of nonmedical cannabis clones started at 50 in December 2018, before falling off in January (23), February (17) and March (17).

Seed sales saw steady growth, nearly doubling from 4,850 in February to 8,562 in March.