r/CannabisThailand Newsletter - Issue #39

Price is everything, or is it?

Apr 02, 2023

Sawadee Everyone,

It was a quiet week in cannabis related politics this week.

So let’s talk about cannabis prices.

As you can see in the chart below, cannabis prices peaked around Aug 2022 at 665 baht per gram and have been on a somewhat steady decline since then. This last week we saw the overall average weekly price at 524 baht per gram. That’s about a 21% decline from the peak.

Prices have been lower than that though. Last week the average weekly price was 512 baht.

Due to the nature of how we collect the data sometimes these weekly changes are more a reflection on the order we obtained the data and less a reflection of prices bouncing around but if one just views the overall trends, that’s what is important.

This is not a unique situation to Thailand. Many legal markets have seen a similar pattern.

New market demand outstrips supply, prices rise, growers see a chance to cash in, demand increases, prices drop.

The interesting thing will be whether Thailand will be able to avoid the crash in prices that has plagued other legal markets.

When growers see the price dropping they begin flooding the market with their inventory and prices collapse.

While at first this may appear to be good for consumers, ultimately the growers and dispensaries need to make a profit to stay in operation.

The optimal situation is when buyers are able to obtain quality product for a fair and reasonable price, dispensaries have enough price room to make a profit, and growers can sell their product for a profit.

That results in a stable market where increasing profits for dispensaries and growers comes not from jacking up prices but from innovations and efficiencies.

I’m optimistic that Thailand will eventually find that balance but it will probably be very painful to get there.

Cheers,

u/CannabisThailandMod