It’s been a good year to be a cannabis cultivator in Colorado. For the fourth straight quarter in a row, the price of a wholesale pound of legal cannabis has risen, now settling at an 18 month high of $999 a pound.
According to the Denver Post, the new data comes from the state’s quarterly cannabis tax assessment, which is used to measure the local industry’s fluctuating 15% retail excise fee. The new taxation number will go into effect at the beginning of next month, and represents a $240 spike in the price of a pound of pot compared to October 2018.
Colorado’s wholesale pricing record was set all the way back in January of 2015 at $2,007 a pound. But thanks in part to major supply additions, the price has dropped steadily since then. In fact, last April was the last time flower fetched over $1,000 a pound. A pound of wholesale flower fetched $850 on average in the month of July, for comparison.
Gallery — Photos of the Cannabis Harvest Cycle:
And per Colorado Department of Revenue statistics, this summer’s price hike hasn’t been a fever dream or hot weather aberration. Over the past four quarters, wholesale cannabis prices have risen in Colorado just as steadily as they had previously fallen. In addition to smokable bud, the price for trim, extract precursor, whole undried plants, and cannabis seeds have all gone up over the past few months.
Across legal weed states, an initially slow licensing process and the trappings of new business development typically starts pot products at exorbitantly high prices. But as permitting and cultivation output increase, flower prices have typically declined after initial months or years. In both Oregon and California, experts worry that overproduction in both the licensed and illicit markets has the potential to crash the legal industry.
For Colorado cultivators though, the price stabilization has finally come back to the market — at least until October’s coming crop is harvested and ready to sell.
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