For the second straight quarter, Colorado’s average market rate for retail marijuana has reached a record low on flower at $658 per pound, down more than $50 from the July 1 report, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. Trim allocated for extraction has also fallen to an all-time low of $76 per pound, well below the previous low of $120 in July.
Prices for trim ($249), flower allocated for extraction ($277), immature plant ($13) and wet, whole plants ($126) all saw very minor increases this fall. The rate for seeds ($4) stayed the same.
This marks the fourth consecutive quarter and the fifth time in the last seven reporting periods that bud decreased in price from its high-water mark of $1,721 per pound in January 2021, following two strong pandemic years of sales. This is also the first year since 2019 that average per-pound prices failed to break $1,000 at any time.
At just $76 per pound, trim allocated for extraction is down nearly 70% from this year’s high of $253 per pound in January and well off its recent high of $302 per pound in October 2021.
The average market rate is the median market price of each category of unprocessed retail marijuana that is sold or transferred from retail marijuana cultivation facilities to retail marijuana product manufacturing facilities or retail marijuana stores. The rates are used to calculate excise taxes.
While the average market rate is down, Colorado sales rebounded in July, however, totaling $153.9 million, an increase of more than $7 million from the prior month. The total is also the second-highest monthly revenue total of the year, second only to March, but still below any month in 2021 and well off the high of $226 million in July 2020.
The July sales total put Colorado over $1 billion in revenue for the year, generating more than $225 million in taxes and fees for the state.
— Brian Beckley