The collective market for CBD sales is projected to surpass $20 billion by 2024 in the U.S. alone, according to BDS Analytics and Arcview Market Research. Unfortunately, for a such a booming industry, the market is not regulated as nearly as it should be.
A new report from Leafreport, a company that works on bringing transparency in the industry via its public database of product reviews, and various CBD-related information, managed to reveal how messy the CBD industry really is.
The research was taken in November, comparing more than 3,500 products from over 53 brands, including gummies, topicals, tinctures, isolates, capsules, e-liquids & vaporizers, bundles, and pet products.
“What we encountered was a wild, wild west scenario in terms of manufacturing and marketing. There’s no uniformity in terms of quality, concentrations, prices or even labeling,” Noa Gans, the Head of Product for Leafreport, said in a statement. “Newcomers to CBD have simply been unable to shop wisely.”
The Most Important Price-Related Highlights From The Study
Tinctures
When it comes to the category of tinctures the price discrepancy between the least and most expensive brands was a staggering 1,000%, with the average price per mg of CBD being 12 cents.
The research determined the least expensive brand was Plain Jane with an average cost of 3 cents per mg of CBD. Plain Jane is not a USDA certified company, and it’s unknown what extraction method they use.
On the other side of the spectrum comes Diamond CBD as the most expensive brand, with a cost of 32 cents per mg of CBD. The company is also not USDA certified, but it’s known that it uses CO2 extraction methods.
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Gummies
The price discrepancy between the least and most expensive brands that produce gummies was 300%, with the average price of 14 cents per mg of CBD.
The least expensive brand revealed was CBDIstillery that offers products with an average price of 7 cents per mg of CBD. CBDIstillery is not USDA certified company, and it utilizes CO2 extraction procedures.
The brand that offers the most expensive gummies products, according to the report is LordJones with the price of 28 cents per mg CBD. It also doesn’t have USDA certification, and its extraction methods are not familiar.
Capsules
In the capsules category, the price disparity between the least and most expensive brands was 760%, with the average price per mg of CBD of 12 cents.
The most affordable brands in the survey were Lazarus Naturals and Infinite, offering products priced at 5 cents per mg of CBD. Both companies are not USDA certified and utilize the less expensive ethanol extraction procedure.
The brand that offers products with the highest prices of 43 cents per mg of CBD is Mary’s Nutritionals. Although the company is also not USDA certified it utilizes the more “expensive ultra high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for purity testing purposes.“
Topicals
The price difference between the least and most expensive topicals brands was the biggest in this product category hitting 2226%, with the average price per mg of CBD of 26 cents.
The least expensive brand, according to the survey was Lazarus Naturals again, offering products at $0.046 per mg of CBD.
The brand known for the highest prices in this category was HempWorx with a price of $1.07 per mg of CBD. The company is not USDA certified, and it utilizes CO2 as an extraction method.
Vapes And Liquids
The price disparity between the most affordable and most costly vapes and liquids brands was the smallest among all categories, being 250%, with the average price of 13 cents per mg of CBD.
The least expensive brand was CBD Genesis with 6 cents per mg of CBD. While the company utilizes CO2 extraction methods, it is not USDA certified.
The most expensive brand in the category was Cbdfx with a cost of 21 cents per mg of CBD. It is also not a USDA certified company and relies on CO2 extraction.
CBD For Pets
The CBD for pets category also had serious price discrepancy of 1,075% between the least and most expensive brands with the average price per mg of CBD of 19 cents.
The most affordable brand determined was Elixinol offering products at 3 cents per mg of CBD. The company is not USDA certified, but it utilizes C02 extraction procedures.
The most expensive brand in CBD for pets category was Sabaidee selling products at 47 cents per mg of CBD. The company relies on CO2 extraction methods, but it’s not USDA certified.
Overall
Over all the product categories, prices per mg of CBD varied hugely, from 2 cents per mg of CBD to 66 cents per mg of CBD, which translates to a difference of 3200%.
Among the variables that could have impacted the final price, the report underlined differences in extraction methods, having certified organic status, 3rd party testing, and potencies for the different product families.
“But overall, there does not seem to be a concrete explanation for the wide disparity of prices of CBD per mg in any one family of products.”
Hence, the report suggested other factors, placing “weed greed” as the first one among them.
Other factors included differences in farming procedures and costs from region to region, staff/employee costs, and demand for a high cash-flow among young companies.
In the end, although it would be expected that the companies, which offer higher-quality CBD products should be more expensive, the report showed this is not always the case.
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