As the threat posed by the coronavirus grew bigger, governments around the world issued lockdown orders and instructed all but the most essential businesses to close down. In the days and weeks preceding the stay at home orders, legal cannabis saw a spike in sales as people stocked up for what they thought would be a long period of self-isolation.
However, several provinces in Canada deemed the cannabis industry essential, giving consumers constant access to cannabis during the lockdown. According to cannabis company executives, the COVID-19 boom in cannabis sales is dissipating, and consumers have slowed down their purchasing frenzy.
“There was a kind of pantry-loading in late March when there was a concern that maybe the supply chain would be closing down and whether cannabis as an industry would be deemed essential,” says Michael Singer, Interim Chief Executive of cannabis company Aurora Cannabis Inc.
After the industry was deemed an essential service in several provinces and sales continued even despite the lockdown, he says, things went back down to pre-pandemic levels in April. “The behaviors were very similar to before that pantry-loading process at the end of March.” During the Edmonton-based company’s third quarter, which includes the first few weeks Canadians spent in self-isolation and ended on March 31, Aurora Cannabis Inc. sold 28,073 pounds of cannabis. This was an increase of 39% from the quarter before.
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