Spot and forward prices for marijuana supplies have not yet experienced the drop in prices that normally comes at this time of year as the annual harvest is brought in. For the week ended Friday, December 18, the spot price index for a pound of cannabis increased by $109 (about 6%) from $1,932 in the prior week to $2,041.

Cannabis market analysts at Cannabis Benchmarks explain the unusually higher price this way:

While local and regional price trends can and do deviate from their state norm, in general, spot and forward prices have continued to rise across the country.  Buyers are becoming more conscientious about their purchases as they attempt to balance the need for inventory with concerns about the impact of new tax regimes, pesticide-related product recalls, and increased competition from both new dispensaries and more consumers becoming home growers.

The futures price for January rose from $1,800 to $1,850 on the near-month contract. For the month of February 2016, the forward price increased from $1,850 a pound to $1,875. The six-month forward price for June 2016 remained unchanged at $2,050 a pound.

About two-thirds of the past week’s transactions occurred in a range of $1,688 to $2,702 per pound, according to the analysts at Cannabis Benchmarks. The volume-weighted average price in Colorado remained flat at $1,955 a pound last week.

The volume-weighted average price in California last week jumped to $1,857 per pound, up 5% from the prior week’s price of $1,760. The Colorado-California price gap dropped by $98 per pound (or $0.22 per gram).

According to Cannabis Benchmarks, the volume-weighted average price of cannabis in Oregon increased 2% last week, from $1,826 to $1,869 a pound. In Washington, prices were fell 4%, from $1,703 per pound a week to $1,632.

Cannabis Benchmarks noted several items in the recently passed federal budget that affect cannabis companies. The provisions of the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment included with the 2015 budget bill were retained. These prevent the U.S. Department of Justice from using any funds “to prosecute those following state medical cannabis laws.” Research programs related to low-THC varieties of cannabis are also protected. But there was a downside:

[M]easures that would have authorized banks to deal with cannabis businesses and allowed Veterans Affairs doctors to recommend cannabis in states with legal medical systems failed to be included in the final version.

Our price check at MJCharts.com indicates prices range from $25 a gram to a low of $3 in the all-cities index. The overall average price for a gram of marijuana (all strains) in Colorado is currently $11.29, ranging from a high of $12 a gram to a low of $8. In California the price is $14.35 per gram, ranging from $25 down to $6 per gram, while in Michigan the average is $16.59 per gram in a range of $20 to $10. In Oregon the average is $10.29 per gram in a range of $20 to $3, and in Washington the average is $10.97 per gram, ranging from a high of $15 to a low of $6.

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