Marijuana Price Flattens at $1,920

For the week ended Friday, March 4, the spot price index for a pound of cannabis was essentially unchanged from $1,921 in the prior week to $1,920. The simple average price for a gram slipped a penny from $4.58 to $4.57.

The futures price for the near month (April) rose 1.5% from $1,980 to $2,010 on the near-month contract. For the month of May, the forward price rose from $2,000 to $2,110 a pound. The six-month forward price for September slipped from $2,250 to $2,200.

About two-thirds of the past week’s transactions occurred in a range of $1,551 to $2,596 per pound, according to the analysts at Cannabis Benchmarks. The analysts also commented on the forward price curve:

While the late-summer early-fall seasonal peak reached $2,133 per pound the week ending September 11, 2015, our analysis suggests that the 2016 pre-harvest seasonal price peak could arrive in August, three to four weeks earlier than last year.  Two primary factors suggest this conclusion.  First, more cultivators are employing light deprivation, which induces flowering earlier than normal, with some of these supplies arriving in markets in June, July and August, helping to suppress summer prices. …

[T]he introduction of mandated testing of medical cannabis in Colorado in July – for microbial contamination, residual solvents, and other biological contaminants, as well as pesticides in certain instances – is likely to have a profound impact on producers unaccustomed to regular monitoring and testing.  Given the size of the Colorado market, the potential for shortages there in the August timeframe could result in noticeable increases in the US Spot price.

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Our price check at MJCharts.com indicates prices range from $21 a gram to a low of $4 in the all-cities index. The all-cities index price is $10.62 per gram, up $0.16 compared with last week. 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 $14.50 per gram, ranging from $17 down to $6 per gram, while in Michigan the average is $16.82 per gram in a range of $20 to $10. In Oregon the average is $10.47 per gram in a range of $21 to $4, and in Washington the average is $10.61 per gram, ranging from a high of $15 to a low of $6.