Australia’s medical cannabis market is thriving, with revenues expected to grow from around US$600m in 2024 to more than US$1.2bn by 2028, according to Prohibition Partners’ Global Cannabis Report: 5th Edition.
This would see it significantly outpace the growth of its European counterparts, with the collective value of all medical cannabis sales in Europe predicted to top US$2.2 billion by 2028, meaning Australia would represent nearly half the entire region.
However, just like its European counterparts in Germany, Poland and elsewhere, this runaway growth is fuelling a major pushback from both industry stakeholders, who are calling for measures to stem the tide of imports, and lawmakers, who are calling for a crackdown on prescriptions.
According to the latest available official data, medical cannabis imports nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023, rising from 24,887kg to 42,104kg.
The vast majority of this came from Canada, which imported nearly 20 times that of the next highest exporter (South Africa) in 2023, seeing imports rise from 21,201kg to 34,005kg year on year.
This means Canadian products from Canada represented 85% of the total imports in 2022, and 80% in 2023.
In comparison, domestically grown cannabis grew modestly in 2023, rising from 24,900kg to 26,593kg. The ‘stock of cannabis held in Australia’ at the end of 2023 meanwhile, saw imported product (23,293kg) significantly outweigh domestically grown cannabis (14.787).
Last month, the Australian Cannabis Cultivators Guild, which represents around 80% of Australia’s local medical cannabis cultivators, wrote to the government to demand new protections for local growers amid concerns of an ‘import flooded’ market.
Without immediate change, the group said, they expect ‘catastrophic failures across local cultivators, resulting in bankruptcies which will impact Australian supply in the long term.’
Credit: Prohibition Partners
It added that the industry’s current trajectory would end with few or no local producers and a market dominated ‘entirely by imports from countries that don’t allow reciprocal imports’.
One cultivator speaking to ABC News claimed that imported cannabis was subject to lower quality control thresholds, and that the ‘flood of imports is ultimately squashing the ability for domestic producers to meet domestic demand’.
These concerns have been bubbling underneath the rapid growth of the sector for some time, and the vast import volumes are now impacting other ancillary sectors.
According to Cannabiz, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) met with the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) in late May to help solve capacity storage issues at its post-entry quarantine (PEQ) facility after seeing a 700% increase in cannabis imports since 2022.
One proposed solution is to construct an offshore DAFF-approved facility, most likely in Canada, to store plant material destined for the Australian market.
Australia is not the only country seeing a growing pushback against the ‘flood’ of cheap Canadian imports.
Since last year, Israel has been threatening to impose sizable tariffs on Canadian cannabis to restore balance to its domestic market. While the implementation of these 165% tariffs is currently stuck in political limbo, Israel’s government looks all but set on pushing these through.
Back in February 2024, when the tariffs were first being threatened by the Israeli Ministry of Economy, Australian industry stakeholders were already paying close attention.
Speaking to Cannabiz at the time, the Medicinal Cannabis Industry Association (MCIA) chair Peter Koetsier said they would be ‘keeping a very close eye on what’s going on in Israel’.
Although he conceded the board had not officially looked into the option of tariffs, he said the topic had ‘been raised by a number of companies’.
Then, during a speech at the United in Compassion symposium in February 2025, chair of Australian Cannabis Cultivators Emily Rigby called on the government to even the playing field for local producers.
She highlighted issues with the lengthy licensing and permit process in Australia, suggesting the disparity between overseas companies getting licenced ‘in a couple of weeks’ and local firms facing waiting times of ‘a couple of years’ has led to ‘limited local production and of course a heavy reliance on imports’.
While suggesting that protectionism was not her goal, she stated that the government has offered support to other Australian industries including issuing tariffs and quotas.
“The Canadian market gets tax exemptions and assistance with energy bills. How can we compete with a mature market that gets all of this, where their vaults are full and then they dump their cheap leftovers that are sitting in vaults in Australia? It doesn’t sit very well with me.”
Nan-Maree Schoerie, managing director of ECS Botanics, a leading Australian cultivator, has also weighed in on this issue on numerous occasions.
Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald in October 2024, she noted that ECS was all but forced to export around 30% of its product, and that if the company was able to supply the local market, it would be ‘twice the size’.
“I have no issue with imports coming here; the issue is that because they have surplus product, they’re dumping it here, which makes things difficult for local cultivators.”
In an interview with Cannabiz in February this year, she said: “It doesn’t matter how efficient we are, and how effective we are, we won’t be on a level playing field, not because of the regulator, but because of the cost of labour.
“Most of us don’t want tariffs, but I think the only way we’re going to get this playing field level is if there is some sort of tariff for low-cost producing countries.”
While producers are clearly in favour of Israel-style tariffs being imposed on Canadian imports, to date the government has given little indication they are looking to make changes.
The post Could Australia Be the Next Country to Impose Tariffs on Canadian Cannabis? appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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This would see it significantly outpace the growth of its European counterparts, with the collective value of all medical cannabis sales in Europe predicted to top US$2.2 billion by 2028, meaning Australia would represent nearly half the entire region.
However, just like its European counterparts in Germany, Poland and elsewhere, this runaway growth is fuelling a major pushback from both industry stakeholders, who are calling for measures to stem the tide of imports, and lawmakers, who are calling for a crackdown on prescriptions.
Growing tensions between importers and cultivators
According to the latest available official data, medical cannabis imports nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023, rising from 24,887kg to 42,104kg.
The vast majority of this came from Canada, which imported nearly 20 times that of the next highest exporter (South Africa) in 2023, seeing imports rise from 21,201kg to 34,005kg year on year.
This means Canadian products from Canada represented 85% of the total imports in 2022, and 80% in 2023.
In comparison, domestically grown cannabis grew modestly in 2023, rising from 24,900kg to 26,593kg. The ‘stock of cannabis held in Australia’ at the end of 2023 meanwhile, saw imported product (23,293kg) significantly outweigh domestically grown cannabis (14.787).
Last month, the Australian Cannabis Cultivators Guild, which represents around 80% of Australia’s local medical cannabis cultivators, wrote to the government to demand new protections for local growers amid concerns of an ‘import flooded’ market.
Without immediate change, the group said, they expect ‘catastrophic failures across local cultivators, resulting in bankruptcies which will impact Australian supply in the long term.’
Credit: Prohibition Partners
It added that the industry’s current trajectory would end with few or no local producers and a market dominated ‘entirely by imports from countries that don’t allow reciprocal imports’.
One cultivator speaking to ABC News claimed that imported cannabis was subject to lower quality control thresholds, and that the ‘flood of imports is ultimately squashing the ability for domestic producers to meet domestic demand’.
These concerns have been bubbling underneath the rapid growth of the sector for some time, and the vast import volumes are now impacting other ancillary sectors.
According to Cannabiz, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) met with the Australian Medicinal Cannabis Association (AMCA) in late May to help solve capacity storage issues at its post-entry quarantine (PEQ) facility after seeing a 700% increase in cannabis imports since 2022.
One proposed solution is to construct an offshore DAFF-approved facility, most likely in Canada, to store plant material destined for the Australian market.
Calls for action, and suggestions of tariffs
Australia is not the only country seeing a growing pushback against the ‘flood’ of cheap Canadian imports.
Since last year, Israel has been threatening to impose sizable tariffs on Canadian cannabis to restore balance to its domestic market. While the implementation of these 165% tariffs is currently stuck in political limbo, Israel’s government looks all but set on pushing these through.
Back in February 2024, when the tariffs were first being threatened by the Israeli Ministry of Economy, Australian industry stakeholders were already paying close attention.
Speaking to Cannabiz at the time, the Medicinal Cannabis Industry Association (MCIA) chair Peter Koetsier said they would be ‘keeping a very close eye on what’s going on in Israel’.
Although he conceded the board had not officially looked into the option of tariffs, he said the topic had ‘been raised by a number of companies’.
Then, during a speech at the United in Compassion symposium in February 2025, chair of Australian Cannabis Cultivators Emily Rigby called on the government to even the playing field for local producers.
She highlighted issues with the lengthy licensing and permit process in Australia, suggesting the disparity between overseas companies getting licenced ‘in a couple of weeks’ and local firms facing waiting times of ‘a couple of years’ has led to ‘limited local production and of course a heavy reliance on imports’.
While suggesting that protectionism was not her goal, she stated that the government has offered support to other Australian industries including issuing tariffs and quotas.
“The Canadian market gets tax exemptions and assistance with energy bills. How can we compete with a mature market that gets all of this, where their vaults are full and then they dump their cheap leftovers that are sitting in vaults in Australia? It doesn’t sit very well with me.”
Nan-Maree Schoerie, managing director of ECS Botanics, a leading Australian cultivator, has also weighed in on this issue on numerous occasions.
Speaking with The Sydney Morning Herald in October 2024, she noted that ECS was all but forced to export around 30% of its product, and that if the company was able to supply the local market, it would be ‘twice the size’.
“I have no issue with imports coming here; the issue is that because they have surplus product, they’re dumping it here, which makes things difficult for local cultivators.”
In an interview with Cannabiz in February this year, she said: “It doesn’t matter how efficient we are, and how effective we are, we won’t be on a level playing field, not because of the regulator, but because of the cost of labour.
“Most of us don’t want tariffs, but I think the only way we’re going to get this playing field level is if there is some sort of tariff for low-cost producing countries.”
While producers are clearly in favour of Israel-style tariffs being imposed on Canadian imports, to date the government has given little indication they are looking to make changes.
The post Could Australia Be the Next Country to Impose Tariffs on Canadian Cannabis? appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
