Hemp had a fantastic 2018. From the U.S. government’s passage of the Farm Bill, which gave carte blanche to farmers to produce industrial hemp within federally set guidelines, to the full legalization of cannabis in America’s northernmost neighbor, Canada, it can be safely said that times are changing.
Although hemp had shown the potential for profitability prior to 2018, it can be argued that 2018 was a turning point for hemp’s position in the global marketplace. The proof can always be found in the data.
In 2018, hemp sales grossed $1.1 billion in the United States alone. According to New Frontier Data, hemp revenues are predicted to double to $2.6 billion by 2022. New Frontier goes on to add that global market revenues for hemp totaled $3.7 billion in 2018 and are on track to reach $5.7 billion by 2020.
An area where this growth can be plainly seen is in the acreage statistics between 2018 & 2019 for industrial hemp farmers in the U.S. Over the course of the last year the median acreage planted for industrial hemp has decreased while the average acreage has increased by 54% since 2018. America’s hemp industry has seen an increase in the number of small and medium sized hemp farms in comparison to larger farms.
It is a bit too early to tell just how fast hemp will continue to grow and whether it will find new marketplaces across the globe. Currently, China leads the pack with gross revenues from hemp sales at $1.2 billion. Europe follows the United States with approximately $980 million in total hemp sales.
In general, it can be said that hemp has grown tremendously since 2018 and is projected to continue to grow at a rapid pace.
Photo courtesy of phys.org
