Washington’s cannabis industry has faced some challenges in the first months of 2018. The state’s traceability nightmare continues and wholesale cannabis prices have dropped lower than ever due to increasing over-production, The Street reports.
Prices have been reported as low around $1200 a pound, The Cannabist reports. Prices have continued to drop since last year and dropped another 3.5 percent in January. Some producers are selling cannabis as low as $1 a gram, which is close to what it cost to produce it in the first place.
Industry veterans like Dan Sloy of Dabb’n Dan’s i502 Solutions doesn’t believe this trend will affect producers who only focus on quality and retailers who only stock quality. Producers and retailers that undercut everyone to move product as fast as possible isn’t sustainable in an industry with high taxes and more competition than you can shake a stick at.
Some were worried when Jeff Sessions removal of federal cannabis protections would hurt the industry, but it seems the opposite is happening. There’s too much cannabis being grown to sell through the state’s 556 retail shops. Many believe the WSLCB is hindering the growth of the industry by not steadily increasing the number of cannabis retailers, especially after the medical cannabis industry was rolled under the recreational industry’s umbrella in 2016.
