Legal marijuana shortages persist in Canada

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“While it is difficult to assess how much of the change is demand versus supply driven,” wrote analyst Vivien Azer, in the note, “our view is that demand remains strong with an improving supply chain.”

Cowen surveyed online shops in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador.

Among Canada’s large producers, Canopy Growth (ticker: CGC) had the largest share of in-stock product on e-commerce shelves, with a 21% share in Ontario, while Aurora Cannabis (ACB) had 12% of that province’s online market. Tilray(TLRY) and Cronos Group (CRON) each had 4%.

After a month when Canada’s pot stocks mostly wandered sideways, Canopy is flat this morning, at $44.44, while Aurora is up 9% to $9.37. Tilray is up 3%, to $69, while Cronos has jumped 6.3% to $20.21, a day before it reports December-quarter results.

Dry flower marijuana made up about three-fourths of all products at Canada’s online shops, noted Cowen, with the remaining offerings consisting of capsules, oils, and pre-roll smokes.

“We continue to believe that the category will look very different in late 2019,” the analyst wrote, “when vapor, beverages, edibles, and other form factors become available.”

Prices for dry flower held firm in January, according to Cowen, at $10.22 Canadian dollars per gram (or US$7.56). Pre-roll product commands a price premium, for its convenience, but Canadian consumers had cause to celebrate, as pre-roll’s average price fell 4% from December, to C$12.88 a gram.

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