It’s no secret that sales in the cannabis industry overall have been down in 2022. The good news for consumers is that prices have generally come down as well. A recent article from MJBizDaily discusses how lower flower prices have led to cheaper extracts and growth in the cannabis concentrate sector.
Cannabis Concentrates in 2022
In the past 12 to 18 months, concentrates have made significant advances in the cannabis industry—especially in more mature markets and among frequent cannabis consumers. This goes for both stand-alone concentrates and infused products such as pre-rolls, vape cartridges, and edibles.
In the past six months, almost 29% of marijuana users say they have used concentrates–a significant increase from the 22% two years ago. Likewise, more experienced cannabis markets have even more significantly increased their concentrate use. For example, from 20% to 26% in Michigan and 13% to 20% in Massachusetts.
“More than 64% of consumers are using cannabis at least daily, says Bethany Gomez, managing director of Brightfield Group, a cannabis industry analytics firm, “The more frequently you use, the higher your tolerance becomes. That’s helping build the concentrates market.”
Changing Cannabis Consumers
There are likely two main factors behind this growth in concentrate usage. One is that, with inflation, consumers are generally more price-conscious and cannabis concentrate provides consumers with a more cost-effective, bang-for-your-buck option.
Another driving force behind the industry’s growth is the increasing sophistication of cannabis concentrates in terms of branding, packaging, and manufacturing.
Lower Prices and Accessible Equipment
Other factors that retail managers cited as driving increased sales of concentrates were cheaper products and improved consumption equipment. The drop in wholesale flower prices has caused the price of concentrate products to fall as well.
Also, if you wanted to consume concentrate a few years ago, you needed a dab rig- which could be expensive and complicated. Now with devices like dab pens, cannabis consumers can get the same effect quickly and easily.
The Most Popular Forms of Cannabis Concentrate
The array of extract types that people are using has grown from 2021 to 2022, including wax, shatter, live resin, crumble, hash, budder rosin diamonds, and batter. All these experienced a year-over-year increase in reported consumer use.
The reported top-selling forms of concentrate from the year are:
- Live Resin
- Wax
- Rosin
- Shatter
“Everybody’s trying to do live resin and get it down to the cheapest cost they can, because live resin has always been more expensive,” says Lance Mathis, a Las Vegas retailer, “As that live resin price continues to come down, it will do better than the other concentrate forms that are out there because it’s a superior product.”
The Last Toke
In an experienced cannabis consumer market such as the one we have in Denver, it’s easy to forget that concentrates are an extremely new retail product. As the market continues to mature and cannabis concentrate prices continue to drop, we can expect more cannabis consumers to try out these products.
At Frost Exotic Cannabis, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve with cannabis concentrate offerings and always have the latest in cannabis concentrates available. If you haven’t tried cannabis concentrates yet, come by our dispensary in Denver.
