Marijuana concentrates are the fastest growing product category in the cannabis industry, according to data released by Arcview Market Research on Tuesday. Projections for legal cannabis sales in the United States were produced in conjunction with BDS Analytics and are contained in the report “Concentrates: The Hottest Product Category in Cannabis.”
According to the data from Arcview, consumer sales of cannabis concentrates will grow by 49 percent in the second half of 2018, reaching a total of $2.9 billion. The research firm expects concentrates to be the second most popular cannabis product category with consumers after marijuana flower.
Dr. Markus Roggen, the vice president for extraction at OutCo Labs near San Diego, California, told High Times via email that the variety of concentrates available offer many new alternatives for cannabis consumers.
“Concentrates are the obvious future of cannabis because they allow for novel products such as oils, sauce, live rosin, tinctures, edibles, and topicals, which new consumers are more comfortable with than flower, as [it] removes the classic ‘stoner’ image from cannabis consumption,” said Roggen.
Legalization Leads to Innovation
Roggen noted that many firms are committing resources to further innovation in the production of cannabis concentrates.
“The entire industry has been investing heavily in research to develop the next generation of products,” said Roggen. “Here at OutCo our focus has been on high-terpene extracts, specifically, vape oil that maintains and represents the full-spectrum, pure cannabis plant as closely as possible.”
Troy Dayton is the CEO of the Arcview Group, the parent company of Arcview Market Research. He said in a release that sales of cannabis oils, vape cartridges, wax, shatter, and similar products continue to gain popularity with American consumers.
“As the cannabis industry matures,