Canadian producers shipped 17,067kg of medical cannabis directly to the UK in 2025, more than six times the 2,578kg recorded the year before, according to the latest official Home Office data seen by Business of Cannabis.
It comes as the total amount of cannabis flower being imported into the UK more than doubled in 2025 to 30,062kg, up from 14,992kg recorded in 2024, marking the highest annual figure in the market’s history.
Rather than pointing to a dramatic increase in Canadian cannabis imports, which have dominated European markets since the sector first emerged nearly a decade ago, this data points to a dramatic restructuring of supply chains.
As we reported in March 2025, up until last year, the UK had imported more medical cannabis from Spain than from any other country. While data on the origin country of this product is unavailable, it’s understood that the bulk of this cannabis came from Canada to be processed in Spain, Portugal and other European states before heading to the UK.
That dynamic is quickly shifting, as Canadian producers increasingly process their own products in domestic EU-GMP facilities and send flower in bulk directly, cutting out the middleman.
Prohibition Partners has analysed this data in granular detail and will be publishing a new report in the coming days, while presenting the data and analysis during Cannabis Europa London 2026.
Alex Khourdaji, Lead Analyst at Prohibition Partners, said: “The growth underscores the dominance of the Canadian medical cannabis supply, driven by excess production, tight domestic margins and Canadian licensed producers’ international expansion strategies.”
26–27 May 2026 · Barbican, London Cannabis Europa Two days of policy, capital and clinical strategy at the Barbican — convening operators, investors, regulators and clinicians from across the European cannabis market.
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The FOI figures, secured by Prohibition Partners and Business of Cannabis (dated 10 April 2026), cover dried cannabis flower (flos) preparations classified as unlicensed specials. They do not include extract products, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, or any imports from the Crown Dependencies.
As previously noted, the data records the country from which a shipment was processed and exported to the UK, rather than necessarily the country where cannabis was originally cultivated.
The raw 2023 total (26,973kg) risks obscuring the underlying trend. According to the data, Finland supplied 20,113kg across the first two quarters of 2023 alone, in two near-identical batches of approximately 10,056kg each, before disappearing entirely from the data; no imports from Finland appear in either 2024 or 2025.
Prohibition Partners has previously noted that Finland does not export medical cannabis and excluded those volumes from its own analysis. Setting those shipments aside, the adjusted 2023 baseline falls to approximately 6,860kg, consistent with a market that has roughly doubled in volume for two consecutive years.
On a quarterly basis, the acceleration within 2025 is even more pronounced. Imports rose from 5,285kg in Q1 to 11,810kg in Q4, a 123% increase across the year, with direct Canadian shipments accounting for 7,839kg of that final quarter figure alone.
Khourdaji suggested that this pattern pointed to a structural shift in how the market was being supplied: “The data suggests a move from incremental, clinic-led growth to larger, wholesale-driven procurement cycles and stronger inventory build-ups towards the end of the year.”
The Home Office notes that 2025 data remains provisional and may be subject to adjustment upon completion of the INCB Annual Returns process, which concludes 30 June 2026.
The growth in direct Canadian shipments has coincided with a decline in volumes from Spain and Germany, countries whose imports have historically included Canadian-origin product processed and packaged before export to the UK.
Spain shipped 3,517kg in 2023 and remained the leading processing hub through early 2025. When Business of Cannabis last reported on UK import data in March 2025, Spain had already shipped close to a tonne in Q1 of that year.
Spain’s quarterly volumes fell from 1,591kg in Q1 2025 to 1,176kg in Q2, 490kg in Q3, and 161kg in Q4, as direct Canadian shipments expanded rapidly in the second half of the year. Spain’s full-year 2025 total of 3,417kg represented 11.4% of total imports.
Germany supplied 1,014kg in 2023 and 1,963kg in 2024, but fell back to 1,404kg in 2025.
Portugal moved in the opposite direction, growing from 384kg in 2023 to 2,466kg in 2024 and 3,971kg in 2025. South Africa recorded the most consistent growth of any supplier outside Canada and Portugal, rising from 42kg in 2023 to 421kg in 2024 and 1,345kg in 2025.
Three countries shipped dried medical cannabis flower to the UK for the first time in 2025. Switzerland supplied 354kg across the year, the Czech Republic 142kg, and Greece 105kg. Israel, which had supplied trace quantities in both prior years, grew to 186kg.
The 14 source countries recorded in 2025, up from 11 in 2024, reflect the continued maturation of international supply chains into the UK market.
The Q4 2025 run rate, if sustained, implies annual imports of approximately 47,000kg in 2026. Whether that trajectory holds will depend on whether the large, wholesale-scale procurement patterns visible in H2 2025 continue, or whether Q4 represented inventory build-up ahead of anticipated demand.
Prohibition Partners’ UK Medical Cannabis Market Update 2026 examines what the import figures mean for market structure, competitive dynamics, and the supply chain outlook through 2030, including a full analysis of re-export channels and Canada’s estimated true share of UK supply.
Data source: UK Home Office. Data covers dried cannabis flower (flos) preparations classified as unlicensed specials only. Crown Dependencies excluded.
The post UK Medical Cannabis Imports Hit 30 Tonnes as Canadian Producers Bypass European Processors appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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It comes as the total amount of cannabis flower being imported into the UK more than doubled in 2025 to 30,062kg, up from 14,992kg recorded in 2024, marking the highest annual figure in the market’s history.
Rather than pointing to a dramatic increase in Canadian cannabis imports, which have dominated European markets since the sector first emerged nearly a decade ago, this data points to a dramatic restructuring of supply chains.
As we reported in March 2025, up until last year, the UK had imported more medical cannabis from Spain than from any other country. While data on the origin country of this product is unavailable, it’s understood that the bulk of this cannabis came from Canada to be processed in Spain, Portugal and other European states before heading to the UK.
That dynamic is quickly shifting, as Canadian producers increasingly process their own products in domestic EU-GMP facilities and send flower in bulk directly, cutting out the middleman.
Prohibition Partners has analysed this data in granular detail and will be publishing a new report in the coming days, while presenting the data and analysis during Cannabis Europa London 2026.
Alex Khourdaji, Lead Analyst at Prohibition Partners, said: “The growth underscores the dominance of the Canadian medical cannabis supply, driven by excess production, tight domestic margins and Canadian licensed producers’ international expansion strategies.”
26–27 May 2026 · Barbican, London Cannabis Europa Two days of policy, capital and clinical strategy at the Barbican — convening operators, investors, regulators and clinicians from across the European cannabis market.
Get Your Ticket Now →
Reading the numbers
The FOI figures, secured by Prohibition Partners and Business of Cannabis (dated 10 April 2026), cover dried cannabis flower (flos) preparations classified as unlicensed specials. They do not include extract products, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, or any imports from the Crown Dependencies.
As previously noted, the data records the country from which a shipment was processed and exported to the UK, rather than necessarily the country where cannabis was originally cultivated.
The raw 2023 total (26,973kg) risks obscuring the underlying trend. According to the data, Finland supplied 20,113kg across the first two quarters of 2023 alone, in two near-identical batches of approximately 10,056kg each, before disappearing entirely from the data; no imports from Finland appear in either 2024 or 2025.
Prohibition Partners has previously noted that Finland does not export medical cannabis and excluded those volumes from its own analysis. Setting those shipments aside, the adjusted 2023 baseline falls to approximately 6,860kg, consistent with a market that has roughly doubled in volume for two consecutive years.
On a quarterly basis, the acceleration within 2025 is even more pronounced. Imports rose from 5,285kg in Q1 to 11,810kg in Q4, a 123% increase across the year, with direct Canadian shipments accounting for 7,839kg of that final quarter figure alone.
Khourdaji suggested that this pattern pointed to a structural shift in how the market was being supplied: “The data suggests a move from incremental, clinic-led growth to larger, wholesale-driven procurement cycles and stronger inventory build-ups towards the end of the year.”
The Home Office notes that 2025 data remains provisional and may be subject to adjustment upon completion of the INCB Annual Returns process, which concludes 30 June 2026.
READ MORE…
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A shifting supply chain
The growth in direct Canadian shipments has coincided with a decline in volumes from Spain and Germany, countries whose imports have historically included Canadian-origin product processed and packaged before export to the UK.
Spain shipped 3,517kg in 2023 and remained the leading processing hub through early 2025. When Business of Cannabis last reported on UK import data in March 2025, Spain had already shipped close to a tonne in Q1 of that year.
Spain’s quarterly volumes fell from 1,591kg in Q1 2025 to 1,176kg in Q2, 490kg in Q3, and 161kg in Q4, as direct Canadian shipments expanded rapidly in the second half of the year. Spain’s full-year 2025 total of 3,417kg represented 11.4% of total imports.
Germany supplied 1,014kg in 2023 and 1,963kg in 2024, but fell back to 1,404kg in 2025.
Portugal moved in the opposite direction, growing from 384kg in 2023 to 2,466kg in 2024 and 3,971kg in 2025. South Africa recorded the most consistent growth of any supplier outside Canada and Portugal, rising from 42kg in 2023 to 421kg in 2024 and 1,345kg in 2025.
Three countries shipped dried medical cannabis flower to the UK for the first time in 2025. Switzerland supplied 354kg across the year, the Czech Republic 142kg, and Greece 105kg. Israel, which had supplied trace quantities in both prior years, grew to 186kg.
The 14 source countries recorded in 2025, up from 11 in 2024, reflect the continued maturation of international supply chains into the UK market.
What comes next
The Q4 2025 run rate, if sustained, implies annual imports of approximately 47,000kg in 2026. Whether that trajectory holds will depend on whether the large, wholesale-scale procurement patterns visible in H2 2025 continue, or whether Q4 represented inventory build-up ahead of anticipated demand.
Prohibition Partners’ UK Medical Cannabis Market Update 2026 examines what the import figures mean for market structure, competitive dynamics, and the supply chain outlook through 2030, including a full analysis of re-export channels and Canada’s estimated true share of UK supply.
Data source: UK Home Office. Data covers dried cannabis flower (flos) preparations classified as unlicensed specials only. Crown Dependencies excluded.
The post UK Medical Cannabis Imports Hit 30 Tonnes as Canadian Producers Bypass European Processors appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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