Marijuana Price Drops 5% to $1,705

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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For the week ended Friday, August 7, the spot price index for a pound of cannabis fell from $1,791 in the prior week to $1,705, a drop of about 4.8%. The futures price for December 2015 remained unchanged at $1,350.

About two-thirds of the past week’s transactions fell in a range of $1,452 to $1,958 per pound, and transaction prices ranged from an average low of $1,440 to an average high of $2,410, according to the analysts at Cannabis Benchmarks. The volume-weighted average price in Colorado dropped by about 4% from $1,719 on July 31 to $1,649 a pound last week.

In Nevada, the state’s first licensed dispensary for medical marijuana opened with about 14 pounds of cannabis on hand for sale. Purchases were limited to half an ounce per customer at a price of $195. The volume-weighted average transaction price in Nevada last week was $2,067 per pound.

One of two companies licensed to dispense medical marijuana in Minnesota raised prices by 15% to 20% due to low patient numbers, an unexpectedly large proportion of low-income patients, and high costs. State law does not permit sales of cannabis flower, and that drives costs higher by forcing dispensaries to sell only processed and extracted cannabis products. The volume-weighted average transaction price in Minnesota last week was around $2,000 a pound.

Wildfires in northern California are having an impact on growers, even though no crops have yet been burned. Some growers may be forced to evacuate fire-threatened areas, leaving their crops untended and neglected. The volume-weighted average transaction price in California last week was $1,613 a pound, down 9% from the week ago average of $1,770.

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As the fall harvest approaches, the industry continues to expect a drought-affected supply for the coming year. According to Cannabis Benchmarks:

By February of next year, many buyers and sellers are anticipating that a significant portion of outdoor grown cannabis will have been sold off, and that prices will be climbing from their fall seasonal harvest floor.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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