Facing a saturated market and intense competition domestically, Canadian cannabis companies are exporting more of their products overseas.
The cannabis export market is an opportunity for marijuana businesses to tap into new revenue streams and mitigate the impact of Canada’s domestic excise taxes.
The growth of medical cannabis markets, particularly in Europe, is a key driver of the export trend.
Canada’s volume of cannabis exports to Germany, for example, doubled from 16,895 kilograms (roughly 37,247 pounds) in 2023 to 33,155 kilograms in 2024, according to Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).
“There’s a lot of excitement around the export market,” said Deepak Anand, principal at ASDA Consultancy Services in British Columbia.
“But people are assuming that it’s much easier than it actually is. It’s not for everybody. There are barriers that you need to get around.”
Strict licensing standards
One of those challenges is having European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certifications.
Of Canada’s 900 licenses, only 19 have the certification, Anand said.
One license holder with EU-GMP certification is Village Farms International, which has offices in Lake Mary, Florida, and Vancouver, British Columbia.
The company exports medical cannabis from its EU-GMP-certified facility in Canada to international markets, including Germany, Australia, Israel and the United Kingdom.
The company is expanding its international presence with more export contracts in new countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe.
Village Farms, whose exports totaled $8.4 million last year, expects to at least triple its international sales in 2025, said Sam Gibbons, the company’s senior vice president of corporate affairs.
“The European markets are taking a much more pragmatic approach to the regulatory environment and see real potential for cannabis as a medicine,” Gibbons said.
“There’s not as much dysfunction as there is in the U.S., where there’s all sorts of red tape and regulatory frustrations. They’re letting these markets behave in a way that’s rational.”
Companies that don’t have EU-GMP certification can run their products through a facility that does.
“They’ve created hubs that are EU-GMP-certified. (Cannabis) gets transformed in these hubs and gets shipped to Germany,” said Niklas Kouparanis, co-founder and CEO of Frankfurt-based Bloomwell Group.
Kouparanis said 30%-35% of Germany’s imported cannabis comes from Canada.
“Prices were falling, and you had overproduction in Canada for a long time,” Kouparanis said.
“Germany is ramping up in terms of patient numbers, and the amount needed here is a blessing to the industry.”
Although Canada has a head start in Germany, Portugal is scaling up, increasing its exports into Germany by 318% to 17,230 kilograms between 2023 and 2024, according to the BfArM.
Germany also is importing cannabis from Denmark, Spain, North Macedonia and the United Kingdom.
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