Packaged inventory of cannabis edibles in Canada has increased much faster than sales in recent months, according to fresh data from the country’s federal health department.
Federal license holders, provincial distributors and retailers were sitting on roughly 6.3 million packaged units of cannabis edibles products as of May.
That compares to sales of about 1 million units.
Edibles inventory has risen 85% since March, whereas sales for medical and nonmedical use grew only 29%.
Edibles, including beverages, earned 4.5% of the market share in Ontario, 4.9% in British Columbia and 5.3% in Alberta, during the first six months those items were available in Canada, according to data collected by Seattle analytics firm Headset.
The growing disconnect between supply and demand for cannabis edibles products is reminiscent of overproduced lower-grade marijuana products that plagued some producers in recent quarters.
That disconnect eased slightly in May, the latest Health Canada data suggests.
Unpackaged and packaged dried cannabis held by federal license holders, provincial distributors and retailers grew 6.5% in May, but that was mostly attributable to growth in unpackaged inventory.
Packaged inventory declined 4% in May from April.
Packaged inventory of cannabis extracts – including vape pens, hash, and softgels – eased in May, ending the month with 9.28 million units in stock versus sales of 1.11 million units.
Canada’s cannabis market data can be found here.
