A new report into the German cannabis market estimates the total number of patients has risen 60,000 in less than two years since first approved for medical use.

The ‘Germany Cannabis Report’ from Prohibition Partners also states that within a few years that number will have risen to one million patients. And, it estimates the total German cannabis market will be worth €16.2 billion by 2028, with the medicinal cannabis market estimated to be worth €7.7 billion by the same time.

This comes as Canadian firm Aphria, one of the few from that country to be currently showing a profit, says that by next year Germany will be contributing almost half its revenues. 

German Boost For Aphria

In a first quarter results announcement Aphria said with 2020 revenue projections estimated at $700 million, its ‘German distribution business will represent slightly more than half of the total net revenue’. 

Daragh Anglim, Managing Director Prohibition Partners, says in the introduction to the report, released in mid-October, that the rapid growth of the German market ‘is unprecedented in Europe’. 

Adding: “Major change has followed across the continent but Germany remains one of the most open, promising and exciting markets in the region.” 

The report highlights the supply problems facing the German market which is currently reliant on imports from Canada, Holland, Portugal and Australia. In an effort to combat this production licences were granted earlier this year, and of the 13 lots, Aphria and Aurora secured five, and Demecan received the remaining three lots. 

23 Euros Per Gram

Each lot allows the holder to grow 200 kilograms per year for a four-year period. And the report adds: “The reality is that the German tendered facilities are not going to meet the domestic medical cannabis quantity demand.” 

It says patients requesting medicinal cannabis are being supported by a robust public health insurance regime, which covers 90% of the population. The monthly allowance 100 gramme is generous and the ‘insurance companies cover all cannabis treatments and do not specify which conditions are covered’. 

Medicinal cannabis in Germany is very expensive, however, with an average price to patients of between €20 and €25 per gram for flower. In the Netherlands, medical cannabis is sold to patients for approximately €7 per gram, says the report.

Original Source