By 2021, the international marijuana industry is expected to be worth $31.4 billion.
The marijuana industry continues to grow at a historic pace and could soon be creating jobs and tax revenues across the world in a few years.
According to Brightfield Group, the global marijuana market is expected to be worth $31.4 billion. Currently, the industry is worth $7.7 billion worldwide.
The United States is currently responsible for about 90 percent of the world market, but that number is expected to drop to 57 percent once medicinal and recreational marijuana sales start in other countries.
Spain, for instance, will start recreational sales in 2019. Analysts predict the Spanish industry to be worth approximately $206 million by 2021.
Canada will be largely responsible for the drop in the U.S. domination of the market as recreational sales are expected to start in July of 2018. According to Forbes, the Canadian market will be worth $4.9-8.7 billion. But these could still be conservative estimates as it matters exactly what numbers are being considered in these statistics. When combining related industries, Canada’s market predictions skyrocket.
“When you consider ancillaries such as growers, testing labs, security, etc., the economic impact could range from $12.7 to $22.6 billion. Of note, these numbers do not include the impact of tourism, business taxes, licensing fees and paraphernalia sales, which could drive the economic impact higher,” Vivien Azer of Cowen & Co. said in a report.
Other countries in South American and Europe will also have some form of legal marijuana sales before 2021.
But investors and industry members in the United States likely do not have to fear being dominated by international markets.
“The U.S. market is so much larger than the rest of the international markets combined,” Bethany Gomez, Director of Research for Brightfield Group said.
The United States may only be just getting started. Recreational sales of marijuana will begin in January in California. Eventually, other large states such as NY, Texas, and Florida could add billions the U.S market if they legalize recreational sales.
